The Unexpected
by CreativeGirl247
Summary: Guinevere is a normal girl from District 7. She is reaped for the Hunger Games where she finds a brutal, inhumane District 2 career. Will she be able to change him and make him more benevolent ?
1. Chapter 1- And the tributes are

Chapter 1

It's reaping day. The day two unfortunate children would be sent to the Capitol to fight to the death. 23 children go in, only one comes out. This was the Capitol's way of punishing us for rebelling against them 74 years ago. As though starving and undermining us in every way imaginable wasn't enough, we have to watch children kill each other.

I felt the leaves sway due to the wind. It was so tranquil and peaceful up here in the branches of the old willow tree. If only today wasn't reaping day!

I began climbing down from my constant branch. A place I'd climb to when I needed to be by myself. My blonde braid was swaying in the wind. When I made it toward the ground, I broke into a run towards my home. I live in District 7, the lumbar district. When I arrived, I saw my brother Perseus sitting on the porch. He's 20 years old had been learning on how to take over the company from father since as long as I can remember. He has the same blonde hair as me but has my father's beautiful hazel eyes instead of mine and mum's dull dark brown one's.

"Mum's going to kill you, she's been waiting for ages" he shouted.

"Thanks for the warning" I replied sarcastically and as I was making my way to the door. I heard him chuckling in the background.

"You're late Gwen" my mother chastised.

"Sorry, mum. I got carried away."

"I've laid out a dress for you. Go take a bath."

"Okay mum"

After scrubbing my skin in cold water, I wrapped my lean body in a towel and made my way towards my bed. My mother has laid out a new Reaping dress for me. My old one was a little too tight. This was purple in colour and made my skin look creamy and glowing. Mother began intricately braiding my hair. Her nimble fingers in my hair soothed me somehow. Yet, I had this uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Mum, what if I get picked?"

"You won't sweetie. You're just 16 and haven't taken any tesserae. There are many 17 and 18 year olds with dozens of slips of tesserae. The odds of you being picked are very low"

_Yes, but there's still a chance. _I thought. But I didn't tell her. I let her lie to me in order to comfort me.

"There! All done! I can't believe my baby girl has become all grown up! You look absolutely beautiful sweetie."

I looked into the mirror and saw a beautiful girl with blond hair and doe-like brown eyes stare back at me. I couldn't believe I was her!

"It's time to go!" My father's gravelly voice echoed through the cabin.

"Wear this, in case…you know. Not that you will be picked. I just want you to wear it alright?"

"Okay mum" I said and looked down to her giving me a ring. My grandmother's wedding ring. It was silver and had a beautiful ruby in the middle.

"Well, we'd best be off then" Mum said.

We began walking to the square, hand in hand. Reaping day had that effect on families, it made them closer. My parents and my brother left me in the line and began making their way across towards the roped sections where families usually stood. I pricked my hand and told my name to the peacekeeper and made my way towards the section of girls my age. My best friend Emilia stood there biting her nails.

"Stop biting your nails, Em. Don't worry; everything is going to be alright. We won't be reaped."

She didn't look convinced but stop biting her nails.

"Welcome, welcome! Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour!" Our escort Leontes Parrot screeched into the microphone. "We have a special video brought to you straight from the Capitol" he said excitedly. They showed is the same film every year on how the districts rebelled and how District 13 was exterminated.

"And now it's time to pick one very special boy and girl to take part in the Hunger Games! As usual, young men first!"

"Samuel Tarly!"

A bulky 18 year old with sandy blonde hair made his way towards the stage. He looked like he was about to cry. I didn't blame him. If I was chosen to compete in the Games, I would be devastated.

"And now it's time for the ladies!" I held by breath and clutched Emilia's hand tightly. Leontes swerved his hand in the bowl excitedly. 4 of those slips had my name_. Please not my name. _I thought frantically.

"Guinevere Mormont"

I released the breath I was holding. _I wouldn't have to worry about being reaped for another year_. I thought. And then I saw Emilia clutching me and sobbing frantically. My mother was screaming in the background. _Wait! I'm Guinevere! _I had been reaped. I gulped and made my way towards the stage trying to keep my face devoid of emotions. I looked up at the screens and saw that I had succeeded. I almost looked bored.

"The tributes from District 7 for the Annual 74th Hunger Games! Samuel Tarly and Guinevere Mormont. Do we have any volunteers?"

There was complete silence in the background. Nobody would sacrifice themselves in order to save us. I had expected it actually so it didn't feel too bad.

"Shake hands" Leontes instructed.

I gripped Samuel's large hand in mine and shook it. He squeezed my hand as if he was trying to console me. The peacekeepers escorted us to the Justice Building where we were put in separate rooms to say our goodbyes.

The room I was in was quite possibly the most luxurious room I had ever been in. There was a velvet couch with a few chairs made of the same material. There were draping and wallpapers as well.

"Gwen!" mum screamed and ran into me pulling me into a bone crushing hug.

"You have 3 minutes" the peacekeeper said and left mum and dad in the room.

"I'm so sorry you have to go into this."

"It's not your fault mum. Don't you dare apologize for what the Capitol is doing to me."

"You can't talk like that here. What if they overhear you?"

"I don't care! I'm going to die anyway"

"You won't." Father spoke for the first time since he had been here, "You're good with an axe, you're fast, you can throw knives, you can climb trees, you can swim, you can survive in the wild and you're smart. You can win this!" he said and pulled me into a hug.

"Come back to us" mum said.

"I'll try."

"Time's up." The peacekeeper said and began dragging my parents out of the room.

"I love you both so much!" I screamed as they left.

I wonder why Percy hadn't come to visit me. Just as I began to question it, Percy barged into the room.

"Gwen!" he said and I came crashing into his strong arms for a hug. I felt so safe in them. I didn't want to let go.

"You can do this, sweet sister. You have to come back. I don't know what I'd do without you. Please, come back to me"

"I promise you I'll try as hard as I can"

"Wear grandmother's ring as your token, okay?" I nodded.

"I love you so much" he said.

"I love you more"

"That's impossible" he said and I began to chuckle.

"Time's up" the peacekeeper said and began dragging my brother out of the room.

"Come back to me" he screamed before leaving.

The next person to visit me was Emilia.

"You're not crying. How?" she said

"I don't want to look weak now. Later, when I'm alone, I might." I replied, my voice cracked at the end.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you" she said and began sobbing hysterically into my shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Em."

"You can win this, I know you can"

"I'll try, Em. I'll try as hard as I can."

"I couldn't ask for more, Gwen."

"When I. No, if I don't come back, look after them for me."

"Don't talk like that! You will come back. And you know I'll look after them." I nodded weakly.

"I love you like you're my own sister, Em"

"I love you like a sister too, Gwen"

"Come back to us."

"I will"

The peacekeeper came in and began escorting me towards the station. Samuel looked like he had cried a lot. Maybe his strategy was to appear weak. The car ride was short and uneventful. Hundreds of cameras were clicking in the train station, taking our pictures. I gave a smug smile trying to look mysterious. I hoped it worked. We made our way into the train and saw the most luxurious room I had ever seen.

"Go on! Help yourselves!" Leontes said. That's when I noticed the food. There was enough food to feed half of our district for a meal.

"I'm Sam" Samuel said and extended his hand again.

"Gwen" I said and shook it firmly.

"Look, let's make an alliance. We look after each other's backs until the final 5. Then we separate and hope it doesn't come down to the two of us at the end. Deal?"

"Deal"


	2. Chapter 2- Allies

Chapter 2

I piled my plate full of rich food I had never had before and saw Sam doing the same. I ate until I was completely full but saw Sam continue eating doughnuts.

"Sam, you'll get a stomach ache if you continue eating at the rate you're eating now."

"I domh cawre" he said with a full mouth. I burst out laughing and he began choking on his food.

"I think we should take a break from the eating. I'll take you to your mentors." Leontes said.

Our mentors this year were Blight and Johanna. Blight had been a whiz with axes and had brutally impaled everyone with his axe during his Games and Johanna had acted weak until the very end where she decapitated the District 2 career with her axe.

"Looks like we have better ones to train this yeah, eh Blight?" Johanna said.

"Let's learn of their abilities first, Jo. Tell me, do you want to be trained separately or together?" he asked us.

"Well, I have no problem being trained together." I said

"We're going to be allies anyway, so why not train together?" Sam replied.

"So you've decided to team up?" Johanna asked us.

"Yeah, well, two's better than one, right? We've decided to team up until the final 5." Sam replied.

"Looks like we've got smart ones this year, Jo. What are your abilities?" Blight said.

"Well, like anyone from our district, I'm good with an axe. I'm used to throwing knives at rats; they always end us hitting the eye. I'm fast and I can swim." I said.

"What about you, Samuel?"

"I'm good with an axe and can pick up heavy trees. That's it."

"Well, Guinevere, you're agile and speedy and you're good with weapons. Samuel, you're strong and good with an axe. I want you both to head to the survival stations at training and try out new weapons. Don't use an axe, and in your case Guinevere, knives too until the private sessions." Johanna said.

We both nodded and Blight continued, "Guinevere, you're going to try to be mysterious and Samuel you are going to be charming and humble. Do you understand me?"

"Why can't we be ourselves?" I asked

"Because it doesn't work like that, sweetie" Blight answered.

"I think we should go watch the recaps of the interviews." Leontes interrupted.

We walked over to the lounge and sat down. I sat next to Sam and watched as Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith began excitedly gossip about the tributes. A beautiful blonde, green-eyed girl and a sandy haired lanky boy from District One volunteered for two small kids. A deadly-looking black haired girl from District Two was reaped and a monstrous looking, bulky blonde boy from District two volunteered. His icy-blue eyes seemed to cut through the TV and stare at me. I knew we'd have to watch out for this boy. Two scrawny kids from District Three were reaped. When a small red-haired twelve-year old was reaped from District Four, my heart nearly broke. Why did innocent children have to be reaped? A determined looking girl from District Four was reaped. A cunning-looking redhead was reaped in District Five. I zoned out until our own reaping. I saw how I was successfully able to keep my face emotionless. A cripple from District 10 was reaped. A bulky looking boy from District Eleven was reaped along with another twelve-year old girl. Another blonde twelve year-old from District Twelve was reaped but her sister volunteered to take her place. I had a surge of respect for her and thought of asking her to be an ally. A bulky looking boy from District Twelve was reaped and that was the end of the programme.

"Well, it's going to be tough, I'm not going to lie to you but we might just be able to do it. Do you want any other allies?" Jo asked.

"Well, how about the boys from District Eleven and Twelve and the Girl from Twelve?" I asked.

"Gwen, I think it'll be better if it's just the two of us. We don't want to get attached to anyone we might have to kill."

"But Sam! Safety is always in numbers."

"No Gwen, it's only going to be the two of us."

"He's right Gwen; you don't want to get attached to a potential enemy." Johanna said.

"Fine!" I said exasperatedly.

"Now go rest, we'll talk about the rest tomorrow. Alright?" Blight said

"Okay. Goodnight guys!" I said.

"Your rooms are over there in cart two." Blight said.

As we made our way, we decided to plan on the Games.

"Do you think we should try to run to the Cornucopia?" I asked

"Do you think you'll be able to make it there before the rest?"

"I think so."

"Then you go get the weapons, I'll get the nearby baggage."

"Okay, I think we should try to get as far towards the edge of the Arena as possible. The Careers will be predictable and camp near the Cornucopia as usual. Nobody will think about going to the edge."

"You're smart, Gwen. I'm glad we're allies."

"Me too, Sam"

"Goodnight, Gwen"

"Night, Sam!"

Cato POV

"I reckon you're going to be the leader of the group, am I right, Cato?" Clove asked.

"Yep"

"You're going to be a great leader, Cato. We'll bring pride to our district for sure!"

"Let's go watch the recaps" Brutus said.

I wonder who's District 7's tributes. I would kill them in the most brutal way imaginable. Their mentor, Johanna Mason, had killed my brother to win her Games. I would avenge my brother.

I sat down on the couch and saw Clove trying to creep near me. I had heard rumours in the Academy that she had a crush on me. I mean, who wouldn't? I know I'm handsome. I saw a hot blonde-green-eyed girl from District One volunteer along with a sandy haired lanky boy. Looks like it's a low year for District One. It's going to be easy to take them out. Two nerdy, scrawny kids from District Three were reaped. A twelve-year old from District Four was reaped along with a determined looking girl from District Four. If they were good enough, I'll let them into the group. The rest of the reapings were pretty boring. A sexy blonde haired girl with a bulky blonde boy was reaped from District 7. Pity I'd have to kill her. She looks a whole lot hotter than District One Blondie. I saw a big, muscly guy from District Eleven get reaped. I'd invite him into the group. District Twelve had a very rare volunteer, a girl who took her sister's place.

"You both should go to sleep" Enobaria said.

"Well, I'm off! Goodnight guys!" I said and went to bed.

The blonde from District Seven haunted my dreams. They weren't exactly nightmares, they were good dreams. A blonde boy with her golden hair and my blue eyes danced around a meadow with me watching him in the side-lines with the girl in my arms. What the hell was wrong with me? I should be dreaming of how to kill her, not how to hold her! The rest of the night I spent watching stupid Capitol reality shows because I was too scared I'd start dreaming of her again.


	3. Chapter 3- Children of the forest

Chapter 3

"Wake up! It's going to be a BIG day!" Leontes screamed knocking on my door like a maniac.

"Just a minute" I slurred groggily.

"There's no time to spare! Wake up!"

"Fine! I'm up! Happy? I'm going to go take a shower."

"Breakfast is in 15 minutes. We'll be reaching the Capitol within two hours."

I'd completely forgotten the reason why I was here. I was here to fight to the death with 23 other children. I'd be reaching the Capitol within 2 hours to be primped and dressed up for the Tribute Parade. District Seven normally would be dressed up as trees or dirty Lumberjacks. I decided to skip taking a shower as I'd have to take one anyway before I met my stylist. I made my way over to the food cart and saw Johanna sipping something from a mug.

"Good morning, Johanna"

"You look like hell"

"Yeah, nightmares"

"I know what it feels like. Here, drink this" she said handing me a mug of dark, dirty looking water.

"What's this?"

"It's coffee. It helps to keep you awake."

I took a sip. It tasted bitter and disgusting. "Urgh, it tastes so disgusting!"

"Here" she said and dropped a sugar cube into my mug. "Do you want milk with it?"

"Does it make this taste any better?"

She nodded and added some milk. "Taste it now"

"Much better. Makes me feel more awake too. Thanks Johanna!"

"Your stylists are going to do horrible things to you. No matter what they do, don't fight them."

"What do you mean by horrible?"

"They are going to wax you and stuff like that. Don't fight them."

"What's waxing?"

"You'll know soon enough" she said and walked out of the room. Well, that was weird. I helped myself to a plate of eggs when Sam walked in.

"Well, you look like hell" I said.

"Nightmares" he said.

"Here" I said and handed him some coffee.

"Thanks."

Soon, I tasted something called bacon. And holy mother of god! It was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted.

"Can I try some of that, Gwen? It looks yummy."

"Only one piece" I said and handed him a piece of bacon.

"Sweet baby Jesus! This tastes so good! Give me another piece, Gwen."

"No"

"Stop acting childish, Gwen."

"No"

And soon we began fighting over bacon. I was close to winning when Blight walked in.

"What the hell's going on over here?" he said seeing us sprawled on the ground.

"Gwen's not giving me bacon."

"It's MY bacon"

"I don't see your name on it"

"We're here!" Leontes said coming into the cart excitedly clapping his hands. "Go on, greet them" he said indicating the crowd gathered in the train station. I couldn't believe these people cheered children to kill each other! It's absolutely disgusting!

"Grin and bear it" Blight said like as though he had read my thoughts and waved. People began hooting when he did. I timidly began waving at the crowd and when I got a loud cheer, I waved more confidently. With the help of many peacekeepers, we made our way to the Remake room and were separated.

After hours of being submerged in various liquids and having every single hair ripped off of my body except the ones of my brows and my head, my stylist team gave me a robe.

"You look beautiful! The one we got last year was so ugly!" Kuku, a pink haired and coloured woman said.

"Thanks, I guess?"

"You wait until Pepper is done with you. You'll be the most beautiful tribute in the Games" Mixu, a neon yellow haired man said.

"Yeah! District One girl's got nothing on you!" Xiao, a vivid red haired woman said.

"Well, we've got to go. Pepper's going to be here any moment. Good luck, darling! Not that you'll need it!" Xiao said and they left me alone in a room and walked out of the door. I wore a paper thin robe and began wandering the room. I saw a peculiar looking design etched on the left wall of the room. I began touching and feeling the etching.

"It's called a minaret." A voice behind me answered.

"God! You scared me!" I said and turned to look at the most normal person I'd seen since I walked into the Remake Centre. She had raven black hair which she wore in a high ponytail. She had the palest complexion I had ever seen in my whole life. She had bizarre purple eyes but other than that she looked absolutely normal. She was wearing a silver pantsuit.

"I'm sorry! I'm Pepper, you must be Guinevere. I'm sorry this is happening to you." she said. She was the first person to say this ever since I entered the Capitol. I was already starting to like her.

"Please, call me Gwen. You know, you're the first person to say that since I came here."

"Well, most of the people here have tiny brains. You must be hungry. Come, let's have lunch" she said and led me to a table. She pressed some buttons and a duck covered in some kind of sauce appeared on the table. It tasted absolutely delicious.

"Now let's talk about your costume."

"Let me guess, we're going to be trees or dirty lumberjacks?"

"No, you're too beautiful for that, sweetie"

"Then what are we going to be?"

"I and Rocco, Samuel's stylist, have chosen a theme this year."

"Which is?"

"Children of the Forest or fairies as you might call them"

"Like the legends?"

"Yep"

An hour later, Pepper brought in a bagged dress.

"Close your eyes" she said.

I pretended to close then with my hands but had left a gap for me to see through.

"You're peeping! Kuku, close her eyes." Pepper instructed. She guided me though a dress. I could feel it end just above the knee.

"You can open them now." Pepper said.

It was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. A green satin leaf-like pattern covered my chest. Then, layered transparent lace in the shape of leaves cascaded until it ended just above my knees. It was layered in such a way that it didn't give anything away. Pepper then instructed Mixu to do my hair and Xiao to put makeup on my face. Kuku wrapped vines across my bare hands and legs. Mixu finally finished by placing a crown of leaves and wild flowers on my hair. Pepper then let me see the mirror. I was stunned. In front of me stood an ethereal, stunning creature. She didn't look like she belonged to this world. My hair fell in subtle waves. Half of it was tied up behind my head. There was barely any makeup on my face.

"It's time to go meet the rest of them. Come on" Pepper said.

"I don't have any shoes?"

"No, bare feet adds to the image of a fairy"

"Okay."

We made our way to the huge stables. I saw Sam bare-chested with brown pants and vines across his chest. He had a crown of vines on his head.

"Well, don't you look dashing?" I said.

"Gwen! Wow! You look beautiful!"

"Thanks Sam!"

"What's the matter? Why do you look so troubled? Sam?" I asked after I saw him clench his jaw in frustration. He looked to be fuming.

"I don't like the way District 2 is looking at you."

I turned to see the boy from District 2 staring at me like I was a piece of meat with a smirk. I glared at him and turned away.

"Come on, Sam. Let's go to our chariot" I said and led Sam to our chariot.

Cato POV

After having hair ripped after my chin and my body. I met my stylist Tyron.

"Well, we're going to dress you up as fearsome gladiators."

"Okay" I was disappointed that I'd have to dress up in the usual gladiator stuff. We'd normally be dressed as statues (because we mine stones) or gladiators.

An hour later, my stylist dressed me up in golden amour, leaving my arms bare. He then wrapped a toga around me and made me wear a golden skirt. This was going to be so humiliating. My legs were bare from my mid-thigh. He then strapped a sword on me. This was my saving grace, I reckon. A helmet with chicken-like wings was placed on my head. I don't understand how this adds to the image of fearsome.

We then took a lift to the stables. I saw my District partner, Clove, wearing a similar outfit and chatting with the kids from District One. They were wearing pink furs and feathers and looked absolutely ridiculous. I made my way over to them to make it know that I was going to be the leader of the Career pack.

"Hello Clove. Would you introduce me to your friends?"

"Oh Cato!" she blushed when she saw how the outfit enhanced my muscles, "this is Glimmer" she said indicating the girl from District One, "and this is Marvel" she said pointing towards the boy from District One. I had never heard funnier names than theirs.

"You must be Cato! Clove told us all about you although she failed to mention your good looks and ridiculously hot body" Glimmer said. It's so obvious she was flirting with me. It was kind of disgusting actually, the way she was throwing herself at me. I grew tired of her advances and looked around the room trying to size up the competition. That's when I saw her, the girl from District Seven.

She looked like an other-worldly creature. I had never seen anyone more beautiful than her. Her dress was so understated and in my opinion, that was what made it stand out. It ended just above her knees which made her legs look long. Her dress mainly comprised of wispy, transparent material which was layered. She was barefoot and had vines wrapped around her arms and legs. She wore a crown of leaves and wild flowers, not a ridiculous chicken-winged helmet like me. Her face barely had any of those horrid make-up people normally wear. How on earth was I supposed to kill her? I just hope someone else does it because there was no way in hell I'd be able to kill such a gorgeous creature.

The way she laughed at smiled at her district partner made me jealous. What the hell was wrong with me? I volunteered to win, not to fall for a girl from the district due to which my brother was dead! Her district partner caught me staring at her and began glaring daggers at me. Oh, if looks could kill I'd be a bloody mess on the ground. I guess he must have told her because she turned around to glare at me. Good, she should hate me. Maybe it'd help me not feel anything for her. But a part of me wanted her to look at me the way she looked at her district partner.

I saw her grab her district partner's hand and drag him towards their chariot. Maybe, they were together? The thought of it made me so enraged. Get it together Cato! You're here to win! Stop looking at her. The doors began opening and the noise helped me snap out of my trace. I began making my way towards the chariot.


	4. Chapter 4- A lost cause

Chapter 4

"When it's time, press this" Pepper said pointing to a button on the vine bracelet.

"What does it do?"

"It's a surprise. If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise."

"Blow kisses, wave and smile a lot, alright?" Johanna said.

"Okay."

District 6's chariot began moving out.

"Good luck, Gwen" Johanna and Pepper said simultaneously.

"You ready for this?" Sam asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Come on, let's press these buttons." I said and pressed mine.

"Remember, smile, wave and blow kisses, alright?"

"I heard it the first time, Sam"

"Okay, here we go"

The wall of loud cheers and hooting was astounding. I wanted to run away from it as far as possible. I began waving and saw images of flowers being released from the bracelet. _So this is what it does_. I began blowing kisses and smiling as widely as possible. Men twice my age fainted and some women as well tried to capture my kisses. Sam caught my hand and brought it to the air entwined in his. _So, he's trying to show off that we're a team? Smart move. Why didn't I think of that?_ We were being cheered the loudest until District 12 came out. They were on fire! The boy and girl held hands and brought it to the air. _Looks like we're not the only team. _I thought.

Our chariot stopped in front of the President's mansion where he gave his annual speech on how the sacrifices of the tributes were to be appreciated. _Not if the sacrifice was forced._ I thought. This man was the reason half of Panem was starving. The reason why these stupid Games existed in the first place. Why doesn't anyone do anything about it? Why don't they oppose him? _You know what happens to those that oppose him. _I thought._ They're killed and made an example of. He rules based on fear._

The chariots began making their way to the Tribute Centre.

"You both were wonderful! Don't worry; you'll get loads of sponsors!" Leontes chirped.

"I don't like the way District One is glaring at you" Sam said.

"She's just jealous you got the title of most beautiful tribute." Pepper said.

"You're joking right? She's clearly more beautiful than me!"

"You think too low of yourself, sweetie. Let's go to our floor. Come on!" Leontes said and began leading us towards the elevator. Sadly, we had to share the elevator with District Two. I tried to ignore the way the boy was staring at me. Blight and Sam looked enraged while Johanna looked amused. I wonder what's amusing in being stared at by a monstrous looking Career!

-Beep- The elevator chirped and they got out, not before he looked at me one last time though. It was like he was undressing me with his eyes. It made me feel naked and dirty. I didn't like it one bit.

"I swear to god if he stares at her like that one more time, I'll rip his eyes off." Sam said.

"You can't blame him can you? Gwen looks beautiful tonight" Johanna said.

"I don't care! It was disgusting"

"Sam, calm down. It doesn't matter. We'll just have to stay as far away from him as we can from now on, okay? We can't afford to land up in trouble"

"Whatever, Gwen"

-Beep- The elevator doors opened up to the most beautiful room I'd ever seen.

"Ah! We're home" Leontes said and began showing us around the suite. He showed us our rooms and said we had an hour until dinner. I stripped off the dress and immediately went to take a shower and wipe off everything that made him stare at me like that. I changed into a pair of loose white pants and an emerald green top and began making my way towards the Dining Room. I saw that I was the last to arrive and sat down next to Sam. I helped myself to a salad and some roast beef. We had crème brulees for desert. We made our way towards the Recreation Room to watch the recaps of the Tribute Parade.

District One were clad in a ridiculously pink costume made up of furs, feathers and sequins. Even seeing the District Two boy through the TV reminded me of the way he looked at me. They were clad in gladiator armour with a ridiculous helmet which looked to have chicken wings on it. District Three were dressed up as Robots. District Four were fishes as usual. I zoned out until our chariot rolled out. I couldn't believe I was the creature I saw on the screen. I looked absolutely beautiful. Sam looked like a hunk. We had outdone every District except District Twelve. It didn't matter to me though, I didn't care.

I bid them all goodnight and made my way over to my room and collapsed on my bed. I was absolutely drained of energy. My sleep was riddled with nightmares of the boy from District Two killing me in various ways. At around 3, I finally gave up and made my way over to the elevator. I saw a button with a leaf on it and pressed it. I saw a beautiful garden and realised that I was on the Roof. I made my way over to the railings and began softly singing the lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was a child.

-Cato POV-

Our chariot began to roll out after District One's. We were greeted to a loud wave of cheers and howls. I kept a smug smirk on my face and began squaring my muscles to make them look more defined. The women and a few men began to blow kisses at me and sighing my name. This was too easy. The rest of the tributes were greeted with meek cheers until District Seven. I saw her name flash on the screen. _Guinevere. That's a beautiful name._ I thought. She began to wave and a trail of visual flowers was left behind. She smiled brightly and began to blow kisses to the crowd.

"I hate how she's getting all the attention. I call dibs on her. I get to kill her." Clove said. The image of anyone killing her made me angry. Her district partner held her hand and lifted it into the air. _So they're a team? Smart move. _I thought.

District Twelve began to come out. They were on fire and were cheered the loudest. I was going to enjoy killing these two. We all stopped in from of the president's mansion where he gave his annual speech. We then stopped at the Tribute Centre.

"You were perfect! You'll get loads of sponsors!" our escort, Candi, said and began leading us to the elevator. We had to share it with District Seven. She was trying to ignore me while her mentor and her district partner were glaring at me. Just when I was completely immersed in looking at her, we arrived at our floor.

"Why on earth were you staring at her?" Clove asked when we came out of the elevator.

"Can't I look at a beautiful woman?"

"This is ridiculous! She's a weakling, Cato. How on earth can you like her?"

"I never said I did." I replied and walked towards my room to take a shower. Dinner was quiet and uneventful. We went to the Recreation Room to see the recaps of the Parade. I was only concentrated on looking at her. Why did she have to be so beautiful? It was so distracting!

After the recaps, we went to bed. I kept dreaming of her until I finally gave up trying to sleep. I made my way towards the elevator and pressed the button which would lead me to the roof. As soon as I got out, I heard the most beautiful voice I had ever heard. It sounded angelic.

_If a storm howls through the land,_

_I'll be your shelter,_

_I'll be your shelter._

_If you'll be my light,_

_If you'll be my light._

_And if winter is chilling,_

_I'll be your warmth,_

_I'll be your warmth,_

_If you'll be my light,_

_If you'll be my light._

_And if the sky clouds into darkness,_

_I'll be your sun,_

_I'll be your sun,_

_If you'll be my light,_

_If you'll be my light._

I saw a silhouette leaning on the railing, as I softly began making my way across to it; I saw that it was her. Like as though haunting me in my sleep wasn't enough, she's now going to be present wherever I am. Oh what the hell! I might as well talk to her.

"Hello" I said. I saw her jump and turn back looking frightened. She was wearing white pants with a green top.

"Hi, I guess?" she said. God! Even her voice was so melodious!

"I'm Cato, What's your name?"

"It's Guinevere."

"Well, nice to meet you, Guinevere. Can I call you Gwen?"

"I suppose so. I think I'll go now." She said and began walking away from me.

"I'm not going to bite you, you know? I could use some company."

"Oh, okay?" She said and made her way towards the railing again. "Are you scared?"

"I was trained not to feel fear."

"I didn't ask you whether you were trained or not. My father once tried to train me in calculations to help my brother in the business. Whether I was trained or not, I wasn't good at it. Do you feel fear?"

"I suppose I do"

"What do you fear?"

"Of disappointing people. You?"

"I'm scared of losing my personality due to the Games."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Remember Titus and Enobaria? Remember how they were in their Games?"

"Titus ate his victim's hearts and Enobaria ripped their throats out with her teeth. So what?"

"So what? How can you kill children and enjoy it? Knowing that you've taken a life away. Someone's child, someone's sibling."

"I suppose the thrill of the kill makes you forget that."

"You're just a typical career, aren't you? Volunteering for the riches and the glory? For what the Capitol throws at you like throwing a piece of meat at a dog."

"You're not supposed to talk about the Capitol that way, you know? You could get into trouble."

"So what? They've already given me a death sentence by reaping me into these stupid Games."

"The Capitol saved us from the nuclear wars. The Hunger Games is the way we are punished for revolting against them. It is an honour to participate in it"

"Ripping 12 year-olds of their innocence and their lives is an honour? Oh, how low humanity has fallen! In the days of old, this land used to be America, the land of the bold and the land of the free. They could pick their own representatives and riches were equally distributed. Haven't you ever questioned why children from the lower districts look bony and shrunken? It's because they starve. The Capitol uses everything we produce and leaves us breadcrumbs to survive on. Don't tell me you haven't ever questioned any of this."

"I guess I never really thought about it that way. I suppose what you're saying is right"

"But this doesn't change a thing does it? You'll still go into the Games killing innocent children for fun, won't you?"

"It's not like I have another choice, is it?"

"I can't believe that for a moment, I thought you were human. You're a lost cause!" she yelled and began walking away.

"Don't act like you won't kill anyone in the Arena."

"If I do, it will be because I have no other choice and I will be a merciful killer. Not a cold-blooded one like you who kills for fun." She said and stormed into the elevator.

This girl was so confusing! Why would she talk so rebelliously? Her character intrigued me. I hated the fact that she had such a low opinion of me. I had a chance to prove her wrong and I screwed it up! Her words kept echoing in my head and then I realised everything she had said was true. Yet there was nothing I could do about it. _You're here to win, Cato! Not to consider such rebellious thoughts! She's getting into your head! Ignore her from now._ That's what I was going to do from now until the start of the Games. I was going to avoid her as much as possible.


	5. Chapter 5- You remind me

**Chapter 5**

_Stupid, stupid, stupid! How on earth could you have thought that he would think of such things? He's from a Capitol lapdog District where volunteering is considered an honour! You made yourself vulnerable to him, you fool! Ignore him from now. _I thought to myself. I went downstairs and went into my room and tried to fall asleep again. This time I fell into a deep sleep.

"Up, up, up! Today's going to be a BIG day!" Leontes screeched began knocking my door like a maniac. This time, I knew any attempts at persuading him to let me sleep longer would be futile. So, I got out of bed and went to take a quick shower. Like the shower in the train, there was various buttons and scents. I chose the lavender smelling one. I pressed the palm outline which dried and removed the tangles from my hair. I saw an outfit set out for me on the bed. It was form fitting and had red streaks towards the side. I saw a pair of leather boots which I saw in the wardrobe. It wasn't worn-in yet but I'd have to make do. I braided my hair and made my way for breakfast.

"Good morning!" I said. I saw Blight eating toast and Johanna drinking coffee again. Sam joined us within a few minutes wearing an identical outfit. After we finished eating, Blight started to instruct us.

"Go to the survival stations, the agility stations and try new weapons. Don't even go near the axes and, in your case Gwen, knives too. Since you've publically shown that you're a team yesterday, I want you both to stick together, do you hear me?"

"Yes, Blight" we both said simultaneously. Leontes lead us into the elevator and we began making our way down to the Training Centre. It was a huge room filled with various stations and weapons. We saw most of the tributes standing in a semicircle. Our District numbers was taped on our backs and we went to stand next to the District 6 tributes. Once District 12 came in, the head trainer Atala instructed to us on how not to ignore the survival stations and to not fight with each other. The Careers looked disgruntled at that, I wonder if they're even remotely human.

Sam and I made our way to the knot tying station first. I thought it would be a piece of cake. Oh how wrong I was proven to be. The trainer showed us how to tie a few simple snares which would help us catch game. We then made our way to the rock-climbing wall. I was able to scale it within a minute. I looked down from the top to see the girls from District One and Two glaring daggers at me. What the hell was their problem? I hadn't even spoken them and they were glaring at me as though I had just killed one of their ranks. I'd have to stay as far away as I could in the Arena. When we saw the mace station empty, we made our way towards it. Turns out we were both naturals at it. I had an idea when I saw all the tributes leave the room to go to lunch.

"Let's skip lunch, Sam"

"Why? I'm starving, Gwen!"

"When aren't you hungry? Let's try out the axes when nobody's there, that way, we can train at them and still not be found out."

"I can't believe I hadn't thought of that. C'mon let's go!"

We both tried out the various axes kept on the tray there. Sam was good with the heavier ones while I was best at the lighter ones. The tomahawks were what I was really good at though. After we'd both decapitated and chopped the limbs of a dozen dummies, we heard the lunch gong sound again.

"Come on Sam, let's go over to the edible plants station" I said. When the Careers saw the chopped dummies, they seemed bewildered. The looks on their faces was priceless! Sam absolutely sucked at identifying the berries and gave up while I was able to ace my edible berries test. We then made our way towards a surprisingly empty spear station. Sam was good at it while I sucked. Finally, we had to take part in a compulsory drill on the obstacle course. The careers all landed surprisingly good times. By the time it was my turn, I was fidgeting nervously.

"Gwen, stop fidgeting, you'll do brilliantly." Sam said.

"Thanks Sam."

Soon, it was my turn. The first part of the obstacle course was to run towards a rocky wall, we then had to climb it and from the top monkey-bar towards a slide which was half immersed in a pool, we then had to swim towards the ending point. I was pretty sure I had done badly but when I looked at the scoreboard, I saw that I was leading. I was able to complete it within 70 seconds. I saw the careers glaring at me with anger of being out-scored. Sam did relatively well and was able to finish within 95 seconds. We were then dismissed. Thankfully, this time we had to share the elevator with District 11 and District 12. The little girl turned towards me and began chatting with me.

"Hi! I'm Rue!"

"I'm Gwen. Nice to meet you Rue!"

"You know, I think the careers are after you because you outdid them in the Tribute Parade and the obstacle course. You're going to be on their target list now."

"Everyone is on their target list, Rue"

"I suppose you're right" she said and smiled sweetly at me.

-Beep- The elevator stopped at Floor 7.

"I've got to go. It's been a pleasure meeting you, Rue"

She gave me another sweet smile before the elevator doors closed. How on earth was I supposed to kill such an innocent, sweet child? I just hope someone else does it. But the thought of someone else killing Rue angered me. _Get a grip on it, Gwen. You have to win for mum, dad and Percy._

After showering off the sweat I'd worked up during training, I made my way over to the Dining Table for dinner. I saw that I was the first one to arrive, so I patiently waited for the others to join me. After a while, we began eating and discussing what we'd done during training.

"Gwen's good with maces, edible berries, snares, rock-climbing and a tomahawk." Sam said.

"A TOMAHAWK? Had I not told you to avoid the avoid anything close to an axe?" Blight shouted.

"Don't worry, Blight. We skipped lunch and tried out axes when no one was around." I said.

"That was smart. Good job" Johanna said

"What about you, Sam? What were you good at?" Blight asked, averting his attention to Sam.

"He's good with heavy axes and maces, can throw a spear pretty accurately, is pretty slow at rock climbing and snare making and can't identify berries for nuts." I said laughing towards the end. Everyone began laughing and Sam ended up pouting.

"You know, Gwen, you remind me of my annoying little sister, Lily."

"Why thank you, Sam! You remind me of my obnoxious older brother, Perseus."

We then began sticking tongues out at each other like little children until Blight told us to cut it out and behave and sent us to bed. All in all, today way a good day. I was completely exhausted and drifted off to a deep, peaceful sleep.

**-Cato POV-**

It's finally Training day! After breakfast, we caught an elevator towards the Training Centre. What I saw there made my jaw drop. Weapons of every kind were lined up. The weapons looked polished and shiny. Even in Academy in our District wasn't so huge. My hands were itching to touch one of the swords. I saw Gwen come down with her district partner. The way the dress clung to her body made me want to rip every single shred off of her body with my teeth. _Focus Cato! You're here to win!_

The trainer began instructing us on how not to ignore the survival stations and not to fight with the other tributes. I saw the rest of my pack sigh with frustration. As soon as I was able to, I begun lifting different swords and cutting up the dummies with sheer force. Once I was done intimidating the other tributes, I decided to glance around the training Centre. Glimmer was trying to shoot with a bow but was failing miserably. I considered excluding her from the group. She might get us sponsors though. I'm going to talk to Brutus about this once I get back. Clove was hitting the bull's eye of the dummies with her knives, as usual. Marvel was exceptional with a spear.

I then heard Gwen laughing along with her district partner at the knot-tying station. I wondered whether they're together. I wonder if I should go try to eavesdrop at the knot-tying station. _No, Cato! It'll make you seem weak! Concentrate! _

District 4 girl was pretty damn good with a trident. I decided to invite her into the pack. I made my way over to Glimmer at the Archery station. "Hey Glimmer! I have a job for you!"

"What is it, Cato?" she asked seductively with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Rather than attracting me, her advances had the opposite effect on me. It made me feel repulsed.

"Go invite District 4 girl into the pack."

"Okay, Cato. If you need anything else, just call me."

I saw the District 4 girl nod and walk toward me.

"You're good with that trident, District 4. Welcome to the pack."

"It's Shelly" she said batting her eyelashes. God! Not her too!

I grunted and began walking back to the sword station. I heard Gwen's beautiful laughter again and turned to see her climb the rock wall with ease and teasing her partner. I wish it was me she was joking with. _Focus Cato! _

I saw District 11 guy completely sever the limbs of the dummies with an axe. This guy was going to be an asset. I didn't want to talk to creepy Glimmer again so I instructed Marvel to ask her to invite District 11.

A few minutes later, Glimmer made her way towards me looking furious and confused. "He refused."

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"He what?"

"He said he'd rather die than join us."

"We'll have to fulfil his wish in the Arena."

Glimmer smirked and begun to walk back to the Archery station. The rest of training was uneventful until we came back from lunch to discover about a dozen severed dummies. Whoever did this is pretty damn skilled with their weapons. If only I knew who it was, I'd invite them in! God, this was so frustrating!

I completely aced the obstacle course with a time of 75 seconds until Gwen's turn. She seemed to fly through the various courses. This girl was going to be hard to catch. I saw the rest of the pack glaring at her.

At dinner, Brutus managed to convince me not to leave Glimmer in the pack for sponsors. I went to bed exhausted and for the first time since I'd seen Gwen, she didn't haunt me in my dreams.


	6. Chapter 6- Friends

**A.N- So basically this is a filler chapter! I'm so sorry I haven't written for so long! I had tests at school so I basically had no time. So let me know what you think of this chapter folks! **

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**Chapter 6**

The next day at training, we went to the fire station which Sam turned out to be a pro at. We then went rope-climbing where Sam was able to haul himself up within minutes. I was surprisingly good with a bow while Sam was manageable with it. At lunch, I managed to teach Sam knife-throwing. I was able to throw dozens of knives at dummies all hitting the vital organs. The careers seemed enraged on finding my master-piece after returning from lunch. We then visited the camouflage station where I was capable of disguising my arm with brown paint to make it look like mud. We then visited the hand-to-hand combat station where I was able to dodge every blow and tire the trainer out. Sam was slow with his blows, but his blows were hard and bruised the trainer at various spots.

Just after lunch, Cato had a tantrum with the District 6 tribute. "Where's my knife? Give me back my knife" he snarled viciously towards the District 6 tribute. I couldn't believe I'd even tried to change his mind set about the Games. I was right; he really was a lost cause.

"I didn't take your knife man" The District Six tribute, Wright, desperately tried to defend himself. I saw Rue's district partner, Thresh, and the girl from twelve, Katniss, smiling at the rafters. That's when I saw Rue suspended up there with Cato's knife. I almost let out a giggle. She was just so darn cute! The trainers finally pried them apart and they were lead to separate corners of the room.

We then made our way towards the elevator. We had to share the elevator with the District 12 tributes this time.

"Hi, I'm Gwen." I said breaking the awkward silence that hung in the air.

"I'm Peeta and this is Katniss" the boy said indicating towards the girl.

"This is Sam, my district partner" I said indicating to Sam who had a mildly amused expression upon his face.

"Pleasure to meet you all" he said smiling.

"It was admirable that you volunteered for your sister" I told Katniss.

"Thanks, I guess?" she replied.

-Beep- The elevator had reached our floor. "Well, this is us. It was nice meeting you both" I said and walked out of the elevator.

As soon as the elevator started moving again, Sam started laughing hysterically.

"Spit it out, Sam! What's so funny?" I snapped at him angrily.

"The District 12 girl was so bewildered that you were speaking to her. You should have seen her expressions!" he said, gasping for air.

I then remembered and chuckled along with him. We then separated and head back to our rooms to take a shower before dinner. After showering, I wore loose khaki pants and a white V-neck T-shirt and began making my way towards the dining table. Yet again, I saw that I was the first one to arrive. I waited patiently for the others. Soon, we began eating and discussing our activities of the day.

"Sam's an expert at making fires and climbing ropes. He's manageable with a bow and throws knives decently too. He's very poor at camouflaging and is slow at hand-to-hand combat but makes it up with strong blows." I said.

"That's good. What about you, Gwen?" Blight asked.

"She's amazing with bows and deadly with knives. She's pretty good at camouflage and is very fast and tired out the trainer at hand-to-hand combat."

"That's good. Your private training session with the Gamemakers is tomorrow. Sam, use some maces, axes and spears. Make a fire and climb a rope. Try to squeeze in hand to hand too if you can. Gwen, use a tomahawk, mace, bow and knives. Try the edible berries test and climb a wall. You try to add in hand-to-hand as well, okay?" Blight said.

"Don't overwhelm yourselves with too many weapons. Show that you're good across the board, okay?" Johanna said.

"Okay" we both said simultaneously.

"You kids go get some sleep; I'll see you all tomorrow at breakfast to remind you." Blight said.

"Goodnight guys" I said and went into my room.

I collapsed on my bed and woke up hours later after dreaming of Cato decapitating me in the arena with a sword. I figured I needed some fresh air. I went to the elevator and pressed the leaf button again. I prayed he wouldn't be here this time too. It was bad enough that he was haunting me in my dreams. After I stepped out of the arena, I saw a silhouette sitting on the ledge. Seeing as it was shorter than Cato's would have been, I silently made my way to the opposite side hoping the person wouldn't hear me.

"I can hear you, you know?" a male voice said. I spun around and saw that the silhouette belonged to Peeta. He was friendly enough. I figured it wouldn't hurt to just talk to him.

"Hi Peeta" I said and made my way to the ledge. I sat down at the opposite end from him.

"Look at that", he said pointing his index finger downwards, "They're partying for us to kill each other. They just sit there and feast on various dishes that could feed a whole district for days. They eat and bet on who's going to kill whom." He said disgustedly. I knew exactly what he was talking about. Hadn't I said the same thing to Cato a couple of days ago?

"Sometimes, I wonder if they can even be considered human. They use everything that we produce and leave us to scavenge on the breadcrumbs. And no matter how much they get, they're never satisfied." I said bitterly.

"I heard you talk to District 2 the other day", he said gently, "It's a waste of time trying to convince the Careers otherwise. They're from the lapdog districts; they've never had to go to bed on an empty stomach. They were raised with the mentality that volunteering for these games is an honour."

"In my opinion, there is no greater dishonour than killing innocent children. Taking them away from their families and taking away the future that they might have had if the Games hadn't exist, it's just disgusting"

"And I understand what you mean by being afraid to lose your identity. If I'm going to die, I want to die as me, not a Capitol version of me."

"I'm glad I met someone who thinks likewise, Peeta"

"If it weren't for these Games, I think we would've been friends."

"I don't care about the Games, Peeta. I already think of you as a friend."

"Thanks, Gwen. Likewise."

"Well, I think I'm going to go sleep now. Goodnight, Peeta" I said and began making my way back to my floor. I knew I couldn't tell anyone of our conversation as Sam would be furious of me making friends with "the enemy", but I was glad I had finally found someone who thought like me. I then flung myself onto the bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Cato P.O.V-**

The second day of training went almost identically similar to the first. Glimmer spent most of the time trying to seduce me and Shelly kept batting her eyelashes whenever I was near her vicinity. I saw that Clove was frustrated with both of them trying to get close to me. When we got back from lunch, I saw another dozen dummies attacked, this time, by knives. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. All of the throws had been at vital areas. This person would be a threat and he/she was clearly warning us anonymously of his/her potential. I was more alert and observed all the tributes to figure who was this formidable enemy. None of them looked suspicious. Oh well, I guess I'll have to be extra careful at the Arena.

After lunch, District Six boy had stolen my knife and I frustratedly had a little fight with him. I saw Gwen looking amused at my fight. The fact that she was smiling because of my actions made my toes curl up, even though it was at my expense.

After I went back up, I took a quick shower and changed into some sweatpants and a T-shirt. Dinner was the same usual affair of training tips and advice from Enobaria and Brutus. I then went to bed where I had another dream. This time, a girl with pale blonde hair and brown eyes was running around a meadow with a boy with golden blonde hair and steely-blue eyes. I saw Gwen laughing and dancing with the dream me. It was just so serene and peaceful. The dream me looked so happy and full of life and not like the real me who am filled with anger and hatred. I was jealous of the dream me for having a peaceful life.

When I woke up, I wanted to get some fresh air. So I headed up to the roof. When I stepped out of the elevator, I saw two silhouettes sitting on a ledge, and boy and a girl by the looks of it.

"_Sometimes, I wonder if they can even be considered human. They use everything that we produce and leave us to scavenge on the breadcrumbs. And no matter how much they get, they're never satisfied." _I could recognise that melodious voice even in my dreams. It was Gwen, whom was she talking to? I think she was talking about the Capitol. She had made it pretty obvious in our meeting that she detested the Capitol.

"_I heard you talk to District 2 the other day. It's a waste of time trying to convince the Careers otherwise. They're from the lapdog districts; they've never had to go to bed on an empty stomach. They were raised with the mentality that volunteering for these games is an honour." _So someone had heard our conversation? I hadn't heard any noise when I was speaking to her. Then again, I was immersed in talking to her to really notice. The fact that someone thought so low of me had no effect on me. The fact that she thought low of me was what really disgruntled me.

"_In my opinion, there is no greater dishonour than killing innocent children. Taking them away from their families and taking away the future that they might have had if the Games hadn't exist, it's just disgusting" _Like my brother had been taken away from us. I felt the locket around my neck where I kept a photo of my brother Randall and my sister Lily. Randall had a girlfriend whom he was going to propose to when he got back. His future had been taken away from him. And pretty soon, I'd have to take away other children's futures too. The fact made me sick to the stomach but there was nothing I could do about it. I had no other choice.

"_And I understand what you mean by being afraid to lose your identity. If I'm going to die, I want to die as me, not a Capitol version of me." _

"_I'm glad I met someone who thinks likewise, Peeta"_

"_If it weren't for these Games, I think we would've been friends."_

"_I don't care about the Games, Peeta. I already think of you as a friend."_

"_Thanks, Gwen. Likewise." _

Every inch of my being was burning with hatred and jealousy towards Peeta. He had made her consider him as her friend when all she did towards me was throwing me a hate filled glance. I wanted her to talk to me freely about everything. I wanted her to be mine. I wanted to be as happy as dream Cato was.


	7. Chapter 7- They stand and keep score

**A.N- In this chapter you will see why Cato is always striving to be the best and you'll get to understand his character a bit more. But underneath all of that cold exterior is a lonely man who just wants to be loved. You will also see the training sessions unfold. And in the end, you'll see a resolution being made. I'm sorry this chapter is so long. Please, tell me what you think, folks! Enjoy reading!**

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**Chapter 7**

Today was the day we'd be judged by the Gamemakers and given a score between 0 to 12. I woke up feeling nervous. I took a shower and wore my training clothes and made my way to the dining room. Johanna was eating eggs with bacon while Blight was sipping hot chocolate.

"Good morning, folks" I said.

"Good morning, Gwen. Do you know what you're going to do in your private session?" Blight asked.

"Well, I've got to show I'm good across the board. So, I'm going to throw some knives, use a tomahawk, do some hand-to-hand combat, climb the rock wall and do an edible plants test. That way, I'll show that I'm good with short range and long range weapons, can protect myself even without weapons, can survive and can run." I said.

"Told you we've got smart ones this time" Johanna told Blight with a smirk on her face.

"That's good thinking, Gwen" Blight said and smiled at me. Finally, Sam walked in.

"Good morning, bed head" Johanna said.

"Yes, I slept a little later than usual, big deal" Sam said.

"Do you know what you're going to do in your private session?" Blight asked Sam.

"Use an axe, throw some spears, do hand-to hand, make a fire, climb some rope." Sam said lazily.

"Do your best, both of you, alright? We need some base material to work on for sponsors." Johanna said.

"Okay, Johanna" Sam said.

I spotted some bacon on the table and instantly remembered our fight in the train for bacon. It seemed like years had passed between then until now. I was growing attached to my District partner. There was no way I could kill him if it came down to the two of us. He reminded me too much of Perseus. And he was slowly growing into a brother figure here as well. Dammit! Why did I have to become so attached to him?

"Want some bacon, Gwen?" Sam asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes. I knew that if I said yes, he wouldn't give me any. Perhaps he's trying to get revenge for my behaviour on the train. So I did something unexpected. I just grabbed some bacon and put it on my plate without answering him.

"Hey! That's my bacon!" Sam said in a ridiculously high-pitch. He was possibly trying to mimic my voice. I smacked his shoulder with my hand and began chuckling. Johanna and Blight looked like they pitied us. I knew just why. If any of us died, it would be hard on the other.

"Shut up and eat, Sam" I snapped at him.

"You can't even take a joke" Sam grumbled and began eating.

After we finished eating, we made our way down to the training centre. Everyone was frantically trying to cover each station. I knew that we would have to split up this time.

"Sam, we're going to have to split up today if we're going to cover all the necessary stations today. Go throw some spears, do some hand to hand, climb a rope and make a fire. I'll go identify some plants, go to the knot tying session, do some hand to hand and climb a wall, okay?"

"We'll do hand to hand together first and then split up"

"Fair enough" I said and began walking towards the hand to hand station.

We then split up to cover our respective stations. Soon, it was time for lunch. Again, we skipped lunch and used both axes (In my case, a tomahawk) and some knives. Immediately after lunch, we were lead into a waiting room to wait in until our respective turns. I saw Peeta standing in there with Katniss. The way he looked at her reminded me of the way Dad used to look at Mum. There was something going on between them. I'd ask him about this later. I mouthed him a "good luck" which he mouthed back. My hands began fidgeting again.

"You fidget when you're nervous, don't you?" Sam asked.

"Yep"

"Don't worry, Gwen. You'll do amazingly well. I believe in you, okay?"

"Thanks, Sam. I believe in you too."

He hugged me and soon we fell into silence. Finally, a robotic voice said, "Samuel Tarly" and I knew it was his turn.

"Hey, remember what to do, okay? You'll be amazing. I believe in you" Sam said and began walking towards the door.

"Good luck, Sam" I shouted.

"You too, Gwen" he said and left the room. I was given a lot of weird stares. I wonder why.

Twenty minutes later, the same robotic voice announced "Guinevere Mormont". I walked into the room and saw the gamemakers perched high and talking amongst themselves.

"Guinevere Mormont. District Seven" I announced.

"You may proceed, Miss Mormont" the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane said.

I took a tomahawk and began slicing up dummies. Once I finished de-limbing and beheading half a dozen dummies, I went to the knife station and buckled on a belt which had a dozen knives in it. I began throwing to in all the vital spots. I then ran over to the knot tying station and made a snare which would cause a human to dangle from a tree. I dragged a dummy into it and made it hang upside down from the snare. I went to the archery station which was about 20 feet away and shot the bulls-eye of the dangling dummy. I began climbing a wall without any suspension gear and made it to the summit. I then made my way back down and ran to the edible plants station and tried an edible berries quiz which I aced.

"You may go now, Miss Mormont" Seneca Crane said.

I then began observing the gamemakers. Most of them looked impressed and astonished. Good, I needed a good score. I bowed in front of them which caused a few cheers from them.

"Thank you for your undivided attention" I said and began walking towards the elevator. As soon as I entered the elevator, I remembered that I forgot to do hand to hand combat and began cursing myself.

As soon as I entered my floor, I was bombarded with questions and queries. Once I told them what I did, they all looked impressed. There was no reason to be impressed; I forgot to do the hand to hand combat. I didn't show them I was good across the board. I disappointed all of them.

"I forgot to show them my hand to hand combat. I disappointed all of you. I'm sorry" I said in a small voice.

"It's okay, you did well, Gwen. I'm proud of you" Blight said.

"Go take a shower and then come back for the scores, okay? You were good enough, Gwen" Johanna said.

I quickly took a shower and wore flowy black pants and a white blouse. We all met up at the lounge and made our way towards the Recreation Room. I sat on the sofa between Johanna and Sam and curled up to Sam. Soon, Cesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith appeared on the television screen and began reading out the scores.

_From District One- Glimmer with a score of 8 and Marvel with a score of 9._

_From District Two- Clove with a score of 10 and Cato with a score of 10._

_From District Three- Bob with a score of 5 and Lena with a score of 6._

_From District Four- Angus with a score of 3 and Shelly with a score of 9._

_From District Five- Will with a score of 4 and Sonya with a score of 5._

_From District Six- Wright with a score of 7 and Elle with a score of 2._

_From District Seven- Samuel with a score of 9 and Guinevere with a score of 10._

_From District Eight- James with a score of 6 and Martha with a score of 3._

_From District Nine- Edward with a score of 4 and Rose with a score of 5._

_From District Ten- Graham with a score of 7 and Anna with a score of 6._

_From District Eleven- Thresh with a score of 10 and Rue with a score of 7._

_From District Twelve- Peeta with a score of 8 and Katniss with a score of 11._

As soon as our scores appeared, we both began jumping with joy. We had gotten career scores. There was no doubt we'd be getting sponsors now. The gamemakers must have really been impressed to give us such high scores. After our celebratory dinner, we were sent to bed. Instead of bed, I snuck into the elevator and went up to the roof. I then began dancing my goofy celebratory dance which I always used to do the day we used to get our report cards. I was the topper in my class and normally got impeccable grades. My hands began swinging maniacally and my feet moved to a rhythm that wasn't there. Soon, I lost myself into the dance.

* * *

**Cato P.O.V-**

Today was the day the tributes would be judged by the Gamemakers and given a score between 0 to 12. I was certain that I would get the highest score. I've been training almost all my life for this. In the Academy, we were given mock training sessions to help prepare us for this moment. On my very first session, I had gotten a 9 and had come second for my age. My father was furious and my mother was punished for my mistake. Ever since then, I have been working to perfect my scores so that my mother wouldn't have to pay for my foolishness. My father was a graphite miner but had never been satisfied with his social standing. He sent my brother Randall to the Academy so that he would become a tribute and come back home a Victor with all the riches and the glory. After my brother was killed by Johanna Mason, my father sent me into the Academy to fulfill his dreams. My dreams were of no importance to him. If I win the Games, I get to save my mother from him. I would get to live in the Victor's Village far away from our house where he can't trouble me or my mother anymore.

I took a shower and caught an elevator to the Training Centre. I noticed that I was the first one to arrive, good, I get to practice longer than anybody. I began practicing my skills with a spear when I heard the rest of the tributes arrive. No matter how hard I tried to ignore the urge to turn back and see what Gwen was doing, my head turned back by it's own will.I saw that she was in the hand to hand combat station with her partner. She was quick and agile and tired the trainer out before she made her move. She's got one mean right hook. The trainer was knocked out for a couple of minutes. I began chuckling at how a small 130 pound girl had knocked out a 200 pound burly trainer. They then split up and headed to various survival stations.

I began concentrating on my own training and went to the sword station and began chopping and stabbing dummies when the lunch gong rang. I wanted to stay back and find out who the mystery trainee was whom sent us various warnings. All the other careers came and stood by me waiting for my instructions. There was no way the mystery trainee would show himself when the whole career pack was still in the room. Sighing, I made my way to the dining room and sat down in the middle table. Soon the rest of the pack sat down near the table. This time, we weren't talking. We were concentrating on what we were planning to do for the training sessions.

As soon as the lunch gong rang again, we made our way back the the training centre where we found chopped up dummies as well as dummies which had been stabbed by knives at various vital spots. Whomever the trainee was, he'd be getting a high score. We were then lead to a waiting room where we would wait for our respective turns. Turned back and saw Gwen fidgeting. Her district partner began talking to her and she finally stopped fidgeting. He then pulled her into a hug. I was shaking with fury. I wanted to be the one to calm her down and to hug her. But I couldn't. Atleast not when I was surrounded by my pack. I would be branded weak and I couldn't afford that.

I was snapped out of my stance by a robotic voice. "Cato Stone"

I walked into the Training Centre and saw the Gamemakers in their usual box. The woman began sighing my name and gossiping. "Cato Stone, District Two" I introduced myself in a charming, seductive voice. The woman looked like they were going to pass out due to ecstasy.

"You may proceed, Mister Stone" Seneca Crane, the Head Gamemaker, said.

I made my over the the sword station and picked up a broadsword. I made my way over the the dummies and began maniacally chopping and stabbing them with sheer force. After chopping up a dozen dummies, I headed over to the spear station and began throwing them at the dummies. Each hit the bulls eye and made their way completely through the dummies.

"You may leave now, Mister Stone" Seneca Crane said. All the gamemakers looked impressed.

"Thank you for your time" I said and walked to the elevator. After I told Brutus what I did for the private session, I went into my room to take a shower.

An hour later, we all gathered up at the Recreation Room to see the scores. Clove was slowly trying to curl up to my while I was constantly shimming away from her. Cesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith began gossiping about the tributes before they finally began reading the scores. Glimmer got an 8, Marvel got a 9, Clove and I both got 10's, Shelly got a 9. Surprisingly, Gwen's district partner got a 9. I was eagerly waiting for Gwen's score. I hope she got a decent one. I was astounded when she got a 10. How did she get a 10? What did she do? What is she good at? I didn't even see her use weapons once! Was she the mystery trainee? No, It can't be! It's probably District 11. District 11 got a 10 too which enraged me. Fire boy got a 8 and fire girl got a freaking 11! A girl got more than me! I was furious!

We ate dinner in silence and were sent to our rooms. I couldn't sleep thinking about how my father would take out his anger of me being outscored on my mother. I felt so guilty. I went up to the roof to get some air. That's when I so Gwen flailing her arms and dancing around looking lost in her happiness. She looking like a child in a candy store.

My body acted on it's own will. I pushed her against a wall and my right hand clasped her throat. I needed to know if she was the mystery tribute.

"What the hell are you doing, Cato? Let me go!" she shouted she began trying to fight me off.

"Every day after lunch, we found decimated dummies. Was it you ?" I growled out.

"Go to hell"

"How did you get that 10 today? What did you do?"

She then punched me on the face with her right hand and pushed me away from her with all her might.

"You disgust me" she said and ran towards the elevator.

What had I done? Ever since I first saw her, I wanted her to like me. To see the real me beneath the exterior of anger and viciousness. Yet, I always ended up making her feel repulsed of me the way I felt repulsed about Glimmer. With every chance I had, I had distanced any chance of me truly becoming dream Cato. Godammit! Why does it have to be so hard! Why did I have to find her here of all places! _Emotions are for the weak! Get it together, Cato! That dream will never become reality. The only thing that can happen is you freeing mother from that monster! You owe that to her! So stop letting emotions control you and win this damn thing! _I thought. That's what I will do. I will win these Games.


	8. Chapter 8- It's time to act

** WizardTributeTimelord- Thank you! Well, here's the next chapter!**

** RtheAwesome- I thought Cato was the most misunderstood character in the book and wanted to showcase why he seemed so cold. And I can't promise you an alliance, but they will cross paths in the Arena. **

**A.N- This chapter is mainly about the interviews and growing relationships between Gwen and Sam and Gwen and Peeta. Next chapter will be based in the Arena. Tell me what you think folks! Enjoy reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

What a jerk! I can't believe I thought he was actually human once! Thankfully, my throat wouldn't bruise. What would I do in the Arena when I come across his burly strength? I'd have to sometime. It was inevitable. I shuddered when I remembered seeing him stab and slice through those dummies with his sword. In the Arena, the dummies would be replaced by children. To calm my thoughts, I thought of the forests of my home and was instantly comforted. Closing my eyes, I entered the foggy realms of sleep.

When I woke up, I took a quick shower and went to the dining room. Everyone was in a happy mood today due to the high scores we'd received last night. After a long time, there was hope that our District could win. Johanna was sipping coffee whereas Blight was pushing some scrambled eggs around his plate.

"Good morning folks" I said.

"Good morning, Gwen." Johanna said.

"First, you are going to have etiquette lessons with Pepper and Johanna while Sam is going to have etiquette lessons with me and Leontes. And then we'll both train you for your interviews." Blight said.

"What do you mean by etiquette lessons?" Sam asked walking into the room.

"You'll see soon enough." Blight answered.

After we ate our breakfast, we were ushered off into our rooms. I found Pepper sitting on my bed. She had laid out a long gown and some high heels to wear. The gown was beautiful whereas the heels were deadly. They were five inches high and by the end of an hour, my feet hurt like a bitch. I swear to god, I could use them as a weapon.

"Oh well, atleast you won't fall flat on your face." Johanna said.

"Don't worry, Gwen. I'll make the heels shorter for your dress tomorrow. Now try these." Pepper said and handed me some shorter heels. These were better and at the end of the session, Pepper deemed me decent. I changed out of my gown into a ruby red blouse and white jeans and made my way towards the dining table to have lunch.

"Well, Guinevere, how did you receive a 10 in your training score?" Johanna asked. They were quizzing Sam and me to train us for the interviews. So far, they'd tried the fierce, sexy and deadly angle on me which all turned out to be epic failures. Sam was good playing the charming angle. He lay back on the couch and amusedly watched my failure to find an angle.

"It's for you to know and for me to show off. You'll have to wait a little longer for that." I answered.

"There! Finally we have an angle!" Blight said.

"Praise the god and his miracles." Johanna said sarcastically.

After being pounded by another arsenal of questions which I tried to answer mysteriously, they'd decided I was ready. We made our way back towards the dining table and ate dinner.

I went to bed only to dream of Cato snapping my neck with ease. I shuddered and woke up with a start. I decided I needed some fresh air and went into the elevator and pressed the roof button. I hoped Cato wasn't there. He'd probably just try to kill me before the games even begin by throwing me off the building or something of the sort.

Thankfully, when I walked out of the elevator, Cato wasn't there. Peeta was sitting on the ledge gazing at the stars. He still hadn't sensed my arrival. Even if he did, he made no action of it.

"The brightest one out there is the North Star, Polaris." I told him pointing towards the star.

"Hey Gwen" he said sounding downcast and gloomy.

"Hey, what happened? You sound dejected." I asked him.

"Katniss probably hates me right now." He said depressedly.

"Oh yeah! What's the deal between you and Katniss?" I asked suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" He asked trying to cover up his blush.

"Oh please! I saw the way you look at her. It's the way my dad looks at my mum after he comes back from work." I said as a matter of factedly.

"I've been in love with her since I was a kid." He said turning beet red.

"Aw! That's so romantic! Why would she hate you for that?" I asked gushing.

"Because I asked to be trained separately." He said turning his head away from me.

"Peeta, please enlighten me as to foolish you are! How can you expect her to love you too when you act like you're her enemy! You stupid idiot!" I admonished him.

"I'm going to reveal that I love her tomorrow. It's probably my only chance to." He said.

"If you tell it during the interviews, she'll probably think you're doing it for the publicity. How dense can you men be?" I scolded him.

"I know. I'll go sleep. Goodnight, Gwen"

"Goodnight, Peeta bread" I joked, hoping to help his moods up.

"That's not the first time I've been called that." He chuckled and walked away.

I gazed at the North Star remembering the time father first showed it to me. I slowly smiled to myself and walked back to the elevator and made my way towards my room. I collapsed onto my bed with a light thud and feel into deep, dreamless sleep.

"It's the big day!" Leontes screeched and knocked on my door.

I followed the now familiar ritual of bathing and clothing myself. I walked into the dining room and Saw Johanna and Blight discussing something heatedly. As soon as I entered the room, they fell quiet. Soon, Sam came in and we began to eat breakfast.

"You have time off until the afternoon when your stylist teams doll you up for the interviews." Johanna said.

Sam and I spent the rest of the morning playing a warfare videogame in the recreation room. We competed against each other trying to outshine the other. In the end, he won by a small margin.

"Ha! In your face, Gwen! Whoop whoop!" Sam said and began dancing in front of me.

"Grow up, Sam!" I said and rolled my eyes amusedly.

"Care to join me, my lady?" he asked and held out his hand. We began cracking some crazy moves and hummed many songs from home.

"There's no way I'll be able to kill you, Sam. You're like a brother to me" I said looking into his eyes.

"And I can't kill you too, sister." He said smiling warmly at me. He then kissed my forehead as tears involuntarily streamed down my face. That's when I decided I would do everything in my power to get him back home to his family. My family had Perseus, his didn't have anyone. They needed him. And I couldn't lose him.

Soon, we were broken apart by our gushing stylist teams who thought we were some sort of a couple. Even the idea of it made my skin crawl. How on earth could they think I was dating Sam whom I thought of as a brother?

Pepper walked into the room with another dress bag. She asked Mixu to close my eyes while Xiao and Kuku helped me into the dress. It felt smooth on my skin. When Mixu let go of my eyes, I was dumbfounded. The simplicity of the dress was what made it beautiful. It was pale violet in colour, almost the colour of the dress I'd worn during the day of the reaping. It felt like years had passed between then and now. The neckline was wavy and two straps on my shoulders firmly held the gown. A white sash with a satiny bow was on my waist. Kuku helped me wear high heels which were quite short to the ones I had trained in to my relief.

Pepper instructed Mixu to put my hair into a bun leaving a few strands framing my face. Xiao applied light makeup on my face and Kuku painted my nails transparent. We then headed out of the Training Centre and into a car. They drove us to the town square where I saw a huge stage set up. We were lead backstage where the stylist team left me to find their seats.

Pepper saw me fidgeting and said, "Gwen, you are the best tribute I have had the honour of dressing. I know you'll be spectacular. Stop fidgeting. I believe in you." She kissed my forehead and walked away too.

Sam walked in wearing a brown suit over black pants. He had a white shirt on underneath and several of the top buttons were open revealing his muscular chest. He walked towards me muttering under his breath. I overhead the words "dressed me up like a stupid doll" and "itchy suit" and chuckled lightly to myself. Sam heard me chuckling and sent a death glare towards me.

"I'm glad you find my discomfort amusing" he said darkly.

"Hey! I'm just chuckling at your obscure attitude tonight. You look quite smart in that suit might I add." I said holding my hands up in surrender.

"Nice save" he said and turned toward the television in front of us where I saw that the interviews had begun.

* * *

**Cato P.O.V-**

The next day I spent with Brutus whom immediately assigned me the angle of deadly, killing machine. If people thought I was violent, they really ought to meet Brutus. While I only covered my real identity with the viciousness and coldness, this man truly was malicious and spiteful. He enjoyed killing those children during his games and loved reliving the experience year in year out mentoring trained tributes that were lethal with a wide array of weapons. He bragged about how he would boast about my skills to the other mentors once I'd won the games.

Lunch and dinner was mostly spent with me trying to ignore Clove looking at me longingly. She usually was short-tempered and rude to everyone but me.

After dinner, I had an urge to go to the roof again. I ignored that urge as I didn't want to confront Gwen about my actions last night. I knew my behaviour was unacceptable but my guilt and anger had clouded my senses. I wanted to apologize but I knew that in order to win the games for my mother, I would have to turn off my emotions and become the cold-hearted killer that Brutus wanted me to be. If I didn't have my mother and sister to save from my monster of a father, I would have rather died then kill little innocent children. But for them, I'd have to think selfishly. I just hope I won't have to kill Gwen.

The next morning I spent lazing around the floor. By the afternoon, the stylist teams had arrived. I was dressed in a silver suit and pants with a black shirt underneath. Several of the buttons were unbuttoned revealing my heavily muscled chest. We were then lead into a car and were driven into the town square where a huge stage had been set up. The stylist team and Tyron left me backstage and went to find their seats.

Soon, most of the tributes had arrived. I couldn't ignore the urge to turn back and look at Gwen who was laughing at her district partner. She was wearing a violet gown which was simple and sophisticated. Her skin seemed to glow. She looked absolutely radiant.

Soon, the interviews began. Glimmer was wearing a see-through gown and played the sexy angle. Marvel played the cool, deadly, laughable angle whereas Clove's interview was just miserably tense. Soon, it was my chance.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Cato Stone!" Cesar Flickerman called out. Wearing a fake smirk on my face, I walked towards the stage.

"So, Cato, tell me, what do you like the most in the Capitol?" he asked me.

"The training centre and its wide array of weapons." I said. _I hate your stupid Capitol and your disgusting Games. _

"So tell me, how did you get that 10?" he asked.

"Let's just say, I'm lethal with weapons. I don't even need weapons as a matter of fact. I can kill anyone with just my bare hands" I said cracking my knuckles menacingly._ I don't want to hurt a fly._

"So are you anxious to enter the Arena?" he asked with excitement.

"I'm shaking in my boots with excitement. Give me the crown right now and save yourselves some time! You know I'm going to win anyway." I said cockily. _If there's one thing I don't want to do, It's go into the arena. You can keep your stupid crowns as long as I get a house away from my father._

"So tell me, Cato, is there anyone special back home?"

"Love is for weaklings. Emotions make you puny." I said seriously. _I do like someone here who probably hates me. _

The gong went off and I was relieved I wouldn't have to put on this act anymore. I zoned out of the rest of the interviews until it was Gwen's turn. She walked on the stage so gracefully, her gown being blown back by the wind making her look dainty and fairylike.

"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Guinevere Mormont" Cesar said bringing her hand to hip lips and kissing her knuckles.

"Please, call me Gwen" she said smiling warmly at the crowd.

"So tell me, Gwen, what do like the most about the Capitol?" he asked.

"It's got to be the beautiful architecture! Just this other day, I saw a minaret which was totally out of this world!" she said excitedly. I knew by the expression on her face, she was telling the truth.

"Now, according to the rumour mill, you're quite close to your district partner, Samuel. Anything romantic?" he asked winking at the crowd. The crowd was hanging onto her words. I was too. I wanted to know if my suspicions were right.

"Me and Sam? Ew, no! He's like a big brother to me." She said. A part of me was strangely pleased by this. I didn't have to worry about competition. She wasn't with her district partner.

"We've all wanted to know this, how did you get that 10?" he asked gushingly.

"It's for you to know and for me to show off. You'll have to wait a little longer to know folks!" she said winking at the crowd.

"Is there any special boy back home?" he asked her.

"Well, there's my brother Perseus who is the most obnoxious, overprotective brother you will ever meet." She said giggling.

The gong went off and she walked off the stage blowing kisses and waving at the crowd.

Only a few interviews after her made an impression on me. Her district partner vowed to protect her during the Games. The little girl from 11 reminded me of my sister Lila back home. I really hope someone else kills her. The boy from District 11 gave one-word answers to Cesar. Fire girl twirled around in her stupid dress and talked about how she promised her sister she'd make it back and Fire Boy proclaimed his love for fire girl on national television. If only I could too.


	9. Chapter 9- Let the Games begin

** FlyingPenguin98- I felt like he was the most misunderstood character of the book and wanted to add an undercurrent of humanity to his character. I'm glad you have a soft spot for him now :)**

**A.N- The games finally begin. This chapter features the events before the beginning of the Games and the bloodbath. I hope you like it! Tell me what you think of it, folks! Enjoy reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 9-**

I woke up with a start. Shuddering and sweating, I looked around my surroundings. No, it wasn't just a nightmare. I was the female tribute of District 7 for the 74th Annual Hunger Games. I would probably die within the next few hours. I looked at the clock on the wall to check the time. The Hunger Games usually began at 10:00. It was still 5:30. With the feeling of grief of my impending death, I looked at my options. I didn't want to die. I wanted to fall in love, get married, and have children. Things every girl dreams of since she was a little child. I probably wasn't the only one with this feeling of impending doom in the building. The Capitol was snatching away 23 futures and 23 lives for their entertainment. So they can lounge and party while we fought with each other and the elements. I didn't want Sam to die either. Thinking about the slim chances either of us had of surviving this made me feel sick. I needed to get my mind off this.

I walked into the dining table and found Johanna and Blight already sitting across from Sam. The silence said it all; we were all frightened of what was to come. We slowly ate without saying a word to each other. Once we finished, I found the courage to speak up.

"Johanna, Blight, I know circumstances forced us to mingle but you have been much more than my mentors in these impending days, you've become my friends. I will never forget either of you, even where I'm going after this, I will remember you. Sam, you've become my brother. I will do everything in my power to bring you back home. And I will never stop loving you. Forever and always." My voice had cracked at the end and tears were streaming down my face.

"Gwen, don't you dare talk about dying for me. I will do everything I can to bring you back home. There's no way I'm letting my sister die." He said hugging me in the end.

"I won't let you die for me, Sam." I said sobbing.

"Let's not talk about this for now, okay?" He asked, wiping the tears from my face.

"Okay." I said.

"You have been two of the best tributes we have ever trained. We will try to help you as much as we can. And we won't ever forget you either." Blight said, his voice wavering at the end.

"Don't let them change you in there. Stay true to yourselves." Johanna said trying to choke back a sob.

We finally all embraced each other in a group hug. Finally, we had to break apart to get ready for the games. One last time, we reviewed the strategies we had thought up during our time here. Finally, we were sent back to our rooms to try to get some more sleep before the games.

"I'll see you in the Arena, okay? When we're raised from the stockyard, we find each other first, alright?" Sam asked.

"Okay. See you later, Sam." I said.

I'd fallen asleep only to be abruptly shaken awake by Pepper. She led me to the roof where a hovercraft was awaiting us. After she explained to me that she'd see me later, I got onto the ladder which held me in place by some sort of electromagnetic force. I sat down next to Sam and saw that we were the first ones to arrive.

"I'll get the weapons, you get the baggage." I whispered into his ear.

"But you'll be in danger then, Sam" He said worriedly.

"Don't worry about me, I'm a fast runner." I said and kissed his cheek.

Soon, the hovercraft began filling in. Cato sat on my other side which immediately caused a tense atmosphere. It took all of my willpower not to slap him right across the face for his behaviour that night on the roof. A capitol attending took my arm and shot something into it. It hurt so badly.

"What the hell is that?" I gasped.

"It's a tracker, dear." She said and moved on to Sam's arm.

Soon, we were lead into the stockyard. A pair of peacekeepers led me into my room where I saw Pepper waiting for me. I showered and wore my undergarments. I then wrapped a robe around my body as we awaited the Arena attire's delivery. When it did arrive, I observed that it was a dark green jacket with a brown undershirt. The pants were dark green as well and the boots were supple and treaded. Pepper told me the jacket was made of heat reflecting material and warned me to expect cold nights. Finally, she urged me to eat and drink as much as possible to ensure that I wouldn't go hungry atleast for today.

Once I finished stuffing my face with food and water, my hands began fidgeting again. Pepper took both of my hands in hers and made me look into her eyes. "Hey! Don't worry, okay? I know you'll do wonders. Don't start doubting yourself." She said in a motherly tone and pulled me into a hug. I didn't want to let go and she seemed to understand that. She held me in her arms until it was time to go.

"_Let the 74__th__ Annual Hunger Games begin! Tributes, please enter the launching pad in 4, 3, 2, 1_" A mechanised voice announced. I reluctantly let go of Pepper and stood inside the launching pad. A glass tube began descending upon me. Pepper looked at me with tears in her eyes and kissed her hand and brought it to mine which was clutching the glass walls.

The pad slowly began rising and I was hit by the sudden, blinding light. Once my eyes adjusted themselves, I looked at my surroundings. There was a wooden forest towards my right with a large lake on the outskirts of it. Some of it was inside the forest as well. I saw that Sam was 4 pads to my left. I instantly made eye contact with him and pointed to the direction of the lake with my eyes. He nodded and understood that that was the direction we would be running towards. I then gestured the bags surrounding the cornucopia with my eyes and he nodded again. He was responsible for the bags. I saw a tomahawk and an axe lying side by side at the edge of the cornucopia which were surrounded by a belt of knives. I knew I had to get them. The gamemakers set them there for me.

Then I heard the final countdown begin.

_10_

_9_

_8_

_7_

_6_

_5_

_4_

_3_

_2._

_1.–Honk-_

I ran at the top if my lungs towards the weapons I'd spotted earlier. I heard feet behind me but they were a few seconds away. I instantly threw the belt of knives over my shoulder and carried the axe with my left hand and the tomahawk with my right. I then looked around and saw Sam run towards the lake with two big bags. Precious seconds were wasted due to this. An arrow lodged itself near my right ankle and the boy from District 8 charged towards me with a machete. Instantly, I grabbed the arrow and stabbed his ankle with it. I then ran off towards the lake. I couldn't help but feel guilty. I had just given that boy a death sentence. The careers would kill him. Shaking the thought away from my mind, I saw Sam.

"Here's your axe." I said and gave his axe to him. I strapped the belt of knives onto my waist and grabbed a bag. Knowing we'd probably not see water for a long time, I opened my bag and urged Sam to do so to see if we had any containers. I had two canteens and Sam had two as well. All four of them were empty of water. I ran to the outskirts of the lake and filled all four of them. We then screwed the caps on and began running away from the Cornucopia towards the edge of the Arena.

We had survived the bloodbath.

* * *

**Cato P.O.V-**

I woke up gasping for breath. There was blood everywhere in my dreams. I was the proprietor of all that bloodshed. I was a monster. I had woken up from one nightmare to another. My life had always been this way. I had nightmares as well as waking up to a dreadful life. The only time that wasn't the case was when I dreamt of Gwen. But that's all that we would ever be, an illusion. She hated me. She didn't know that she once gave me hope of a better life. But that wasn't possible due to the Hunger Games.

Today was the day I'd turn into a cold blooded murderer. The thought of killing children made me want to gag. I never wanted any of this. I wanted to be a blacksmith, not a child murderer. Randall was the one destined for glory in our family. I was happy in his shadows. But he died in the games and all that responsibility fell on my shoulders. I never appreciated how much he protected all of us from the wrath of father's drunken outbursts. I never knew what I had until it was gone.

I woke up and went to the dining table where Enobaria, Brutus and Clove were talking animatedly about the different ways you can kill someone. The way they talked so excitedly made me feel repulsed. It was like every shed of humanity was ripped from them. I immediately brought up my walls and ate my food in silence, occasionally adding into the conversation.

Once I re-entered my room, I saw Tyron sitting on my bed. He took me to the roof where a hovercraft awaited all the tributes. I caught hold of the ladder and it hoisted me up. I saw Gwen kissing her district partner's cheek once I entered. I was jealous of him. I knew she thought of him as a brother, but I was still enraged. I sat down next to her and looked down at my hands. I saw her's tightly gripping the handle of the seat. She had a ruby ring on her hand. Perhaps that's her token.

Once the tracker was injected into our arms, we were lead into the launch rooms. I took a shower and ate my food while Tyron and I were waiting for the area attire to arrive. When it did arrive, I saw that it was a burgundy red jacket and a grey undershirt. The pants were black and there was smooth, treaded boots to wear. Tyron told me the material was heat reflective.

We then waited until it was time to be launched into the Arena. Tyron finally decided to break the silence and speak up.

"You can win this, champ." He said in a fatherly manner and gave me a man hug.

"_Let the 74__th__ Annual Hunger Games begin! Tributes, please enter the launching pad in 4, 3, 2, 1_" I entered the launching pad and a glass tube descended down on me. The light was blinding when we were initially raised into the arena. I looked around me and noticed that Gwen was to my right. Clove was directly opposite to me while the rest of the career pack was scattered around. I saw Gwen making eye-conversations with her district partner.

I turned my attention away from her and looked around my surroundings. There was a forest to my left and a wheat field to my right. In the cornucopia, I saw a broadsword. I knew that the gamemakers had kept it there for me. I saw a couple of spears at the edge of the cornucopia along with an axe, a tomahawk and a belt of knives. I focused on getting the spears first and then getting the sword.

I then took a deep breath in and dethatched my emotions. Then, I heard the final countdown begin.

_10_

_9_

_8_

_7_

_6_

_5_

_4_

_3_

_2_

_1 –Honk-_

I ran as fast as I could to the cornucopia. Gwen was running past me at an incredible speed. I saw her sling the pack of knives on her shoulder by the time I reached the spears. I knew that I wouldn't be able to kill her without living the rest of my life in regret, so I ignored her presence and turned my attention to the rest of the tributes around me. The girl from District 3 ran towards me with a knife. Without thinking, I plunged the spear into her stomach. Her eyes were hauntingly sad. She looked at me accusingly as her eyes glazed over.

I took a deep breath and removed the spear from her stomach. The boy from District 5 ran towards me with a machete and he looked confused which I plunged the spear into his stomach. His eyes glazed over as the life left his body. The boy from District 8 was desperately trying to limp away from the cornucopia but had an arrow sticking out of his leg. Out of pity, I slashed his throat as I knew that if anyone else from the pack got to him, they would torture him. I guess this is what Gwen meant that day by merciful killing. The girl from District 9 saw me approaching her direction and threw a rock at me, out of instinct; I threw the spear at her and saw it plunge into her stomach. The accusing look in her eyes which asked me why I had taken her life away made me feel disgusted of myself.

Finally, I looked around and saw that no one else was around. I looked at the bodies, and discovered that Gwen and her district partner were alive. So was fire girl, lover boy, District 11 and the little girl. There were eight bodies. I had killed half of them. I was disgusted with myself. I knew father would be roaring with happiness and so would Brutus. How does mother feel now that her son is a child murderer? Would she still love me? Or would she hate me?

The accusations in the eyes of my victims haunted me. I ordered my pack to organise the items at the cornucopia when out of nowhere, lover boy waltzed into the clearing. Clove raised her knives to kill him, but I stopped her to hear what he had to say about himself. He offered to help us finding fire girl in exchange for entering the pack. I agreed to his offer as we knew nothing of fire girl and he probably knew her better than anyone else in the arena.

A few hours later, the boy from District 3 walked in to the clearing timidly and explained how he could help reset the bombs if we allowed him into the pack. I found his plan intriguing and allowed him access to the pack. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep only to be woken up by nightmares of accusing eyes.


	10. Chapter 10- Forever and Always

**A.N- In this chapter, both the characters are thoroughly affected by the course of the Games. There's quite a lot of death scenes. Toward the end, both the characters are barely holding n to their sanity. Tell me what you think of it, folks! Enjoy reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 10-**

Sam and I continued trekking until we were a decent distance away from the cornucopia. We both opened our bags to look at our haul. It consisted of two first aid kits, two sleeping bags, the four canteens we'd found earlier, a few packs of crackers and salted beef jerkies, two packs of dried fruit, a wire, a box of matches, a bar of soap and a couple of knives. We divided it equally between the bags and continued walking until it turned dark.

We climbed up a tree which provided decent coverage. Sam could only climb about 20 feet above the ground as the branches could no longer support his weight. I scaled another 5 feet and laid down my sleeping bag. I then pulled out a pack of crackers and climbed down to Sam's branch. We ate a couple of crackers for dinner when we heard the anthem begin.

I looked up at the sky and saw the photograph of the girl from District 3 projected on the night sky. So both the tributes from District 1 and 2 had survived then. I had hoped that Cato somehow might have died which was futile. The guy was a freaking tank of muscle mass! I wanted to cry when the photograph of the boy from District 8 was projected on the screen. I was the reason he was dead. If I hadn't buried that arrow in the flesh of his leg, he might have survived. Fighting back my tears, I looked up at the night sky to see the girl from District 10 being projected.

The anthem ended and the sky grew dark yet again. Thresh, Rue, Peeta and Katniss had all survived the bloodbath. I was happy that they hadn't died but knew that this increased the possibility of us having to meet them in the Arena. I didn't know if I'd be able to kill little Rue or kind-hearted Peeta. Shaking such thoughts away, I snapped back to reality. The temperature had dropped quite a lot.

Bidding Sam goodnight, I climbed back to my branch and snuggled into my sleeping bag. I closed my eyes and welcomed the foggy realms of sleep.

The next day was equally as tiring as the day before. Sam would not let me rest for long as he wanted to get to the edge of the Arena without confronting any other tributes. By evenfall, we found a stream. We followed the direction of the stream and found a waterfall. I felt quite dirty and sticky.

"Hey Sam! Let's take a bath." I said removing my jacket.

"So unguarded? No way in hell!" He said seething.

"Well Mr Overprotective, I feel dirty and it just happens that we have a bar of soap. We've been trekking almost non-stop since yesterday. Please?" I asked him making my irresistible puppy dog face.

"Fine!" He said and began removing his clothes as well.

We swam to the edge of the waterfall and began scrubbing our body of the dirt that had accumulated over the days. When I looked up, I saw a hole in the wall of the cliff. I hesitantly climbed up to it and saw that it was a cave. It was quite deep and dry. It looked like the perfect spot to camp in tonight. I showed Sam my discovery and he seemed quite impressed.

We wore our clothes again and I set up a few traps around the waterfall for food. We then climbed up to the cave with our bags on our backs. We made a meal out of sandwiching the dried fruit, beef jerky and the crackers together. I have to admit, it tasted pretty good! Finally, since every muscle of my body was screaming for rest, I fell asleep.

The next morning, we both decided to go check up on the traps we had set earlier. We were both walking through the forest quietly when I heard the snap of a twig. I instantly turned towards the direction of the sound to see the boy from District 10 throw his machete at me. I threw a knife at him within a split second and found myself being pushed towards the ground.

Once I got up from the ground, I saw that my knife had struck District 10 right between the eyes. I then turned to tell Sam of this when I saw him lying on the ground with the machete sticking out of his stomach. I had never felt so empty in my entire life. I had vowed to bring him back home and I had failed. I instantly rushed to his side.

"Sam! Please don't die on me! I'll stitch up your wound, I'll kill everybody else! I'll do anything! Please!" I sobbed.

"Hey! Don't cry! I vowed to protect you and I did." He removed his wooden bracelet from his left arm. "Wear this for me. Win the games for both of us. I love you, sister. Forever and always." He said cupping my face with his right hand.

"I love you too, brother." I said with tears streaming down my face.

He smiled and closed those forest green eyes I had become so familiar with over the past few days. I felt his chest stop rising and heard his canon go off. He was gone. My Sam was gone. He died for me. It should have been me, not him. I brought my face to his chest and began crying. It was entirely my fault.

I felt a hand on my shoulder comforting me. I lifted my head from Sam's chest to see Rue standing over me with tears in her eyes. She hugged me and let me cry into her shoulder.

"We should let the hovercraft pick up their bodies." Rue said gently.

I knew that I'd have to leave him. I removed my ruby ring and put it on his finger. Now, Sam would always have a piece of me with him and I would have a piece of him with me. I slipped his wooden bracelet onto my right wrist and gently kissed Sam's forehead.

With one last look at Sam, I walked away and let Rue's hand guide me. I felt so cold and empty. Rue led me into a hollow tree and held me tightly as I continued crying on her shoulder.

"It's my fault Sam's dead. It should have been me, not him." I sobbed.

"Gwen, I've known Sam only for a short while but I know he would do anything to protect you. He died peacefully because he knew he had just saved your life." Rue said gently.

I knew she was right. I gently nodded and began falling asleep.

* * *

**Cato's P.O.V-**

That night, we decided to go hunting. When I say hunting, I don't mean hunting game, I mean hunting other tributes. Glimmer kept boasting about how she tortured the boy from District 4 at the bloodbath. I remembered the boy; he was only 12 and had curly red hair. I pitied the fact that his life had ended before it had barely begun. I could tell Shelly wanted to rip Glimmer's head off but kept herself in control. I knew that at any minute she would snap and we'd be down by one member, maybe even two. So I changed the topic by enquiring about the hours left until sunrise. Clove then started recounting her experience in killing the boy from District 9. Hearing her excitement on how she tortured him threatened to bring my dinner up. But I knew I would look immensely weak if I did so. So I let my mind remember my childhood memories.

I remembered the time when Randall took me to a surprise picnic for my 6th birthday. He had blindfolded me and had led me to the valley where Mom and Lila were waiting for us. I slowly smiled at the memory and kept walking. Soon, we saw smoke rising not far from the place we were at. We quietly stalked into the direction of the fire and saw a small girl huddled near the fire. She had deep cuts on her right upper arm and her thigh. Her lips were blue and she was shivering violently due to the cold.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" I said with as much cruelty as I could muster.

The girl fearfully looked back and saw us. Her face paled as we drew near and formed a circle around her. She fell on her knees and began begging for mercy. It was a pitiful sight. I didn't want to take away her life, but I had no choice. I had to win this for my mother and Lila.

Glimmer, Clove and Marvel slowly tortured her by cutting her intestines out and had begun to cut her eye out too. Her screams were heart wrenching. I had turned my humanity off but I still wasn't as cold-hearted as them. Unable to stand any more torment, I shoved my broadsword deep into her stomach and pulled it out.

The rest of the pack rummaged through her pack but found nothing worthwhile.

"Better clear out before the body starts stinking!" Marvel shouted with a grin on his face. How could he speak of the girl's lifeless body as if it were a disgusting thing? She was a living being like us who ate, slept and breathed as the rest of us. I regretted my choice of volunteering. If I hadn't volunteered, maybe the kids I'd killed at the bloodbath would still be alive. If it weren't for my damn father!

Upon not hearing the canon, Lover Boy went over to check up on the body. I decided to go with him. We saw that she was still bleeding. She was suffering all this pain and agony due to me. I closed my eyes shamefully as Lover Boy cut her neck with a knife. This time, I knew she was dead.

"I saw what you did there." Lover boy said cautiously.

"I don't know what you mean." I said looking into his eyes. I answered his question through my eyes on whether I stabbed her with my sword due to mercy or not. He looked at me as though he suddenly began respecting me. He nodded at me with a smile and we began walking again.

We walked back to camp just in time for daylight. I crept into the tent I shared with Lover Boy and fell asleep only to be haunted by the desperate pleas of the dying girl from District 8.

The next day was basically spent sorting through the supplies and Bob, the boy from District 3 working on the explosives. Clove and Glimmer were glaring daggers at each other due to their advances at me. I spent most of the reminiscing my childhood memories. Is this how Randall felt during his games? Did he spend most of his time in the Arena viewing old memories in his mind to keep him sane? Did he miss us as much as I miss everybody? Smiling softly at the memory of holding Lila in my arms for the first time, I fell into dreamless, peaceful sleep.

We went hunting again the next day. We knew that if there was any more absence of deaths, the Game makers would set mutts upon us. Mutts are mutated animals made by the Capitol which are lethal and deadly. We began walking through the forest when I heard the soft footfall of steps. I signalled the pack to remain quiet while Marvel and I quietly stalked towards the direction of the footsteps. I saw the boy from District 6, the one I had argued with at the training centre, walking away from us with a machete in his right hand. He was yet to notice us.

"He's mine." Marvel said with a mad glint in his eyes. I knew that he would torture this boy until he would beg for death. He softly walked towards the boy until he held a knife to his throat. The boy surrendered as he had no choice and dropped his machete to the ground. Marvel tied his to a tree and began flaying him alive. He screamed and writhed in agony. The rest of the pack joined us and began cheering Marvel with exited expressions on their faces. Lover boy's face mirrored mine. After Marvel flayed most of the skin off of the boy's face, he cut his throat and the boy's cannon finally sounded.

Due to Marvel's torturing show, we hadn't noticed that it was pitch black. We huddled in a circle and made a fire. The anthem began playing and I looked up at the sky to see the boy from district 6 and Gwen's district partner being projected onto the sky. I wonder how Gwen's holding up, is she even alive? She had to be, her face wasn't projected on the night sky. Is she injured? I wonder how she's taking the news of her district partner's death; they seemed to be pretty close.

Setting Glimmer up for the first watch, I fell asleep only to be haunted by the blood curdling screams of the boy from District 6 and the girl from District 8.

I was woken up by being roughly shaken awake by Clove.

"Cato, wake up! There's a fire!"


	11. Chapter 11- Deals and Blonde plaits

**A.N- Hey guys! Sorry for taking so long to upload a new chapter. Had a whole lot of assignments to complete. I swear, I will be more consistent with my uploads now! This chapter shows Cato and Gwen's first meeting in the Arena. A whole lot of unknown feelings and mysterious looks. Tell me what you think of it, folks! Enjoy reading!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 11- **

"Gwen, wake up!" Rue bellowed in alarm. I woke up to a start and realized that it wasn't just a dream. It was reality. I wasn't going to magically wake up in my bed back home in District 7 with a start. I was in the Hunger Games and Sam had died for me. The thought of Sam's demise made me teary eyed yet again. He was really gone. The boy I had begun to love as a brother was gone. He died in my place.

"Gwen, we have to go!" Rue shook me while her eyes were filled with horror. That's when the familiar smell hit me. A few years ago, there was wildfire in the forest back home. Dozens of men had lost their lives due to the fire. I remember shakily waiting in the living room near the door praying for my father's safe return. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

The smoke began hitting me and I knew that we had to wet our shirts and pull it to our noses; otherwise we'd be asphyxiated by the lack of oxygen and the intake of carbon monoxide. I told this to Rue who opened her tiny backpack to reveal a water skin. That's when I realised I had left Sam's and my baggage at the waterfalls. I'd have to go retrieve it soon. We began running through the forest following the fleeing animals.

I clutched Rue's hand tightly in mine as she tried to keep up with my long strides. That's when the gamemakers decided to up the ante by launching fire balls at us. We ran as fast as our feet could carry us when a fireball made contact with the skin of my right shoulder. I impulsively let go of Rue's hand and began hissing in pain. I knew that Rue would be right behind me.

"Gwen!" Rue screeched with fright and horror vibrating through her voice. I saw her trapped underneath a fallen log. I could just leave her here. No one would blame me for running for my own life. It wasn't like we were allies anyways. But would I be able to live with myself if a small girl had been burnt alive in order for me to survive? That's when I vowed not to kill anybody and to help as much as possible to those who deserved it.

I pulled the log off of Rue and we began running randomly as we had lost the group of wild animals. We came across a small pond where I hesitantly began cupping water and pouring it on my shoulder. The cool water on my shoulder helped reduce the pain quite effectively. I closed my eyes and groaned with pain. That's when I heard hurried footsteps coming towards the pond from the direction we had fled from.

"Rue! Hide!" I hissed. I could atleast protect myself as I had my tomahawk and my belt of knives with me. I didn't know what weapons Rue had or whether she had a weapon at all. I wanted to protect the little girl for as long as I could.

I saw Katniss running as fast as she could away from the fire. She splashed into the pond without even noticing me. I could easily kill her. She didn't even know I was there. She wouldn't even put up a fight. But did I want to take away someone's life, someone's future, like Sam's had been taken away from him? He didn't deserve to be in these games. Neither did she. No one deserved to be in these horrific, barbaric games.

Once she slowly began gathering her bearings, she noticed my presence. She immediately clutched her knife and held it in front of her protectively. I noticed that her calf had been burnt just like my shoulder.

"I won't hurt you if you won't hurt me. I just want to rest after this" I said pointing towards my shoulder with my other hand.

"I know what you mean." She said, putting away her knife away and pointing towards her calf.

"How about we make a deal that we won't hurt each other now while we're resting." I said, trying to sound as confident as I could. To tell the truth, I was exhausted.

"Okay" She said and began falling asleep with her calf in the lake. I gently began floating in the pond like I had done so many times before back at home in the lake in the forest near my home. I drifted off to calming, peaceful sleep until-

"Gwen, wake up!" Katniss screeched and began running away from me. I heard heavy footsteps and hollering in a short distance away from the pond. I hurriedly swam back to the bank of the pond and began running to the nearest tree I could find. I had climbed about 20 feet from the ground when they noticed me. My shoulder was screaming protestations but I forced myself to climb. I observed that Katniss was climbing the tree right next to mine.

"Well, well, well! Would you look at that! Looks like we've caught two birds with one stone!" The girl from District 2 screamed with excitement in her voice. By then, I had climbed about 40 feet from the ground. According to my calculations, neither of them had that same calibre in climbing as I had and most of them were much heavier than me. So I stopped climbing and began observing the Careers.

That's when I noticed Peeta, my friend, was one of them. How could he? All that talk was probably just to derail me. I was furious but then something inside me screamed at me to see clearly. That's when I noticed Peeta's physical demeanour. He looked anxious and kept gazing up at Katniss like he wanted to sweep her off her feet and run as far away from here as possible. That's when I realised he had joined the careers to try and protect her from them. That was such a loving gesture from him.

I continued studying the demeanour of the other Careers. The boy and girl from District One and the girl from District 2 seemed to be in a heated conversation. I tried to eavesdrop when I heard something along the lines of "she's my kill" "I get to kill her however I want", etc. Cato was looking up at me intensely with some mysterious expression on his face while the girl from District Four looked merely bored.

Katniss began teasing them which resulted in Cato trying to climb her tree and failing miserably. He fell flat on his buttocks and began swearing loudly. The girl from District One tried to shoot but was more inaccurate that Sam had been in his trial back in the training centre. Peeta suggested they try to siege our trees which they all reluctantly agreed to.

The careers began making camp and fell asleep. I slowly began formulating theories on how to escape from their clutches. Finally, I decided that I would jump from tree to tree as I had done many times back home in District 7. I knew that to execute this plan, I'd need some sort of protection for my hands. So I looked towards the sky as I knew Johanna and Blight would probably be watching me right now, hoping that I would make it out of this mess.

"I'd really appreciate some leather gloves, you know." I whispered casually towards the sky.

A couple of seconds later, I saw a silver parachute falling through towards the branch I'd settled on. I gingerly opened the parachute to see brown leather gloves in them. I put them on and waited for the right moment to put my plan into action. I decided to observe the career gang again. Peeta was looking at Katniss's tree with longing and desperation in him eyes. Cato was looking at my tree with an expression I couldn't identify.

Once the careers started falling asleep, I heard someone whisper my name from the tree next to mine. I looked at the tree to find the voice's point of origin and found Rue's big, brown eyes looking at me. She pointed to Katniss's tree where I saw her eyeing the branches above her and slowly making her way towards it with the blunt knife she hand from before. What the hell was she doing? We all know that trackerjacker poison at small doses can cause hallucinations whereas at large rates are even fatal. That's when I realised she was going to cut it down and drop it on the careers.

I slowly jumped from my tree to hers. When I landed on a branch below her, Katniss again looked at me fearfully. I held my hands up to indicate that I had no intentions of harming her. I gave her a small, sharp knife from my belt and began preparing to jump to the other tree when she gently nudged my arm. I turned around and saw her rummaging through her pack. She took out a parachute and held it out towards me. I noticed that it was probably some sort of Capitol medicine. I looked at Katniss confusedly when she pointed towards my shoulder. I gently applied some on my shoulder and felt instant relief.

I smiled at her and she smiled back. Then, I turned away and hopped from branch to branch until I was a safe distance away. That's when the screams began.

* * *

**Cato P.O.V-**

We began to run as fast as we could. You could almost smell the fear in the air. It was every tribute for themselves. No one was ready to risk their lives to save another if they were in trouble. Every essence of camaraderie we had developed over the past few days was dissolved in thin air. We followed the track of the animals fervently running away from the fire.

I felt bizarre. It almost felt as though the Gamemakers were herding us together. After the ghastly show of torment that Marvel gave yesterday, one would have thought that the Gamemakers would be satisfied, but the spectators probably felt that every day without any killings was one in vain. After running for about a quarter of an hour, we successfully all made it out of the fire.

Shelly tripped over a root which had us all howling with laughter. Seeing me laughing, she turned bright red. This was so annoying! We heard a twig snap in the distance and heard instantaneous shuffling towards the direction of the treeline. There was another tribute within our whereabouts. I knew what this meant, another session of soul wrenching torture.

Feeling dread in the pit of my stomach, I walked past the treeline and saw a small pond. It looked tranquil and peaceful. Towards my right, I heard more shuffling and saw firegirl trying to climb a tree. The way she carried herself indicated that she had been injured. I had estimated rightly as I saw her ankle burnt badly. I saw loverboy from the corner of my eyes and saw how he instantly paled. It was obvious that he cared for her. He might not have loved her as he announced on national television, but he still felt something for her.

I heard more shuffling on the tree next to her and immediately looked for the source of disturbance and saw Gwen swiftly climbing the tree. She moved as fast as a squirrel and just by watching her climb trees, you could tell she was indeed from District 7. After climbing a safe distance, she turned towards us and started observing us with those calculating, mesmerising eyes of hers.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here! Looks like we've caught two birds with one stone!" Clove said almost bursting with excitement. I suddenly felt fear in pit of my stomach, not for me, but for Gwen. Suddenly, I felt furious with myself. Why did I care so much for a girl who hadn't had a single civil conversation with me as of yet? Why did I feel obligated to protect her from everything that wanted to cause her harm? It made no sense! I barely know the girl for god's sake!

I mentally reprimanded myself. I didn't need to care for someone in the Arena. I had to make it out of here for mom and Lila. To distract myself from Gwen, I put on my mask again and tried to torment Katniss and climb her tree. That was very stupid of me. I fell flat on my ass!

After that rather embarrassing moment, we decided to siege them. They would have to climb down from those trees sometime. I busied myself in preparing a fire and slowly begun falling asleep after assigning a guard schedule. Randall plagued my dreams again. I was seeing him more often than ever since I joined these horrible Games. He slowly walked to me with a bright smile on his face. Slowly, his face began swelling up and it burst into a million pieces.

Shaken, I woke up only to hear buzzing. Focusing my eyes, I saw hundreds of insects swarming towards us. When one came in contact with my cheek, I knew what these creatures were. Bloody trackerjackers!

"To the river!" I screamed and ran to the river. By then, I was bitten once on my collar bone and once on my chest. As soon as I entered the river waters, the trackerjackers stopped chasing me. I slowly carried my broadsword and made my way back towards the camping ground. I saw a mutilated, swollen body in front of me with blonde hair. Gwen! Gwen was dead! Fire girl must have dropped the nest which caused this entire ruckus.

I felt anger bubble in me. Gwen was dead because of Fire Girl. I was going to kill her slowly and make her feel the pain Gwen felt in the final moments of her life.

"Katniss, go! Run!" I heard loverboy shout at her. So he was helping her? I would make him suffer too. Anyone who was associated with Firegirl would suffer a painful, excruciating death by my hands.

"You! You helped her! You lied all along!" I screamed at Loverboy and tried to fight him with all the strength I could muster. I ended up cutting his thigh deeply and he began running away as I began feeling groggy and bleary. The world seemed to close around me and the earth gave away at my feet. The last thing I remember seeing was a blonde plait and shockingly beautiful brown eyes.


End file.
